I'm trapped in a Naruto fanfic? WHAT THE HELL?
by Susie Craves
Summary: What would it be like if I were a character in Naruto's world? Every fan has thought about it. But it becomes more than a fantasy for Ally when she finds herself crashing right into Deidara's face! -This fanfiction will have NO sequel-
1. Scene One

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Naruto land. I _do_ own Ally, Charlotte and Rick.**

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"Is it done yet?"

"Is it done yet? Is it done _yet_?"

"Yeah, yeah almost-- CRAP! It's slowing down!"

"What?!"

"Quit clicking, you'll make it worse!"

"No I want to--"

"Charlotte! Rick is on the phone for you!"

"Oh! I'll be downstairs in a minute mom! Ally, make sure it speeds up!"

"Yeah, yeah…"

_Walk. Walk. Door slams open._

Ah finally. I was beginning to think she'd never leave.

Charlotte, my little sister, ran down the stairs at a fast pace and I could hear her making those strange giggly noises before she yanked the phone out of my mother's grip. And then she would answer the phone with that sickeningly sweet '_Hi_ Rick'

Rick has been her boyfriend since yesterday.

…But he doesn't know she's cheating on him.

No, don't worry. My sister isn't one of those slutty high school girls who do it with every guy they lay eyes on…I think. No I'm pretty she isn't, but that's not the point.

My sister loves anime, and so do I. We're particularly addicted to fond of this anime called--

"DAMN YOU PIECE OF JUNK! DOWNLOAD I SAY! I HATE YOU!"

Sorry, I had to verbally molest my computer for a moment. But as I was saying, we like this anime called Naruto. In fact it's been our favourite since…forever. Yeah something like that.

Charlotte is so crazy about it that she's been going to this site called Quizilla and she's made some weird fanfic about her and Shikamaru falling in _love_ and.. blah blah blah.

So yeah, sadly enough, Rick has yet to find out that Charlotte has a secret obsession for the lazy dude. I don't know how Shikamaru gets so many fans, he finds everything troublesome for some reason. I like Kakashi better.

"Ah finally, I knew you'd listen…Huh? NO! DON'T STOP ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU IDIOTIC--"

In case you're wondering why I'm screaming like a lunatic at a lifeless square-shaped object that's completely unaware of my building frustration, it's because it won't download.

Yes, my computer enjoys pestering me by spontaneously freezing the screen and stuff like that.

_Especially_ when I downloading Naruto episodes. Though I also download the manga, just to see what's going to happen in the anime. I think I've read the manga up until volume 40 by now…I still have to download volume 41.

"Just one more percent! C'mon do it for me! I'll buy you a new harddisk if you do what I say for just ONCE!" The battle for successful downloading is endless

And so far, I've been losing. Miserably.

Pa-ding. **Download complete**, it suddenly said. "YES! I LOVE YOU!"

But of course there are moments when the piece of junk feels sorry for me and lets me have my victory.

Click click. Episode 29 'Kakashi! Open your eyes!' started up in windows media player and I leaned back in my chair, satisfied to see the anime playing on the screen.

Downstairs I could still hear Charlotte's annoyingly loud giggling and squealing so I quickly slammed the door of my room shut and jumped back on my seat, eagerly gluing my eyes onto the first scenes of the episode.

I watched in silence. Team Gai had defeated their opponents, but Naruto and Kakashi were still chasing Deidara so for a moment I thought it was going to be a boring episode.

I was about to reach out for the mouse and skip a few moments but then Kakashi suddenly popped up with his new mangekyou sharingan so I stopped.

Kakashi's sharingan eye locked onto the blonde akatsuki member. Deidara and his surroundings became blurry, catching my interest.

"An eye jutsu? Shit!" Deidara cursed. "My arm's being sucked into the _dimensional space_! What a jutsu…"

Kakashi came back into the picture with his sharingan and then…my screen _froze_.

"NOOOOOOOO! DON'T DO THIS TO ME STUPID COMPUTER! I HATE YOU!" I hit the screen.

However I couldn't continue my outburst of rage. Abruptly everything around me became blurry and out of place, my room became a weird mess of swirling colours and mixed up objects.

Including me.

_What the hell is going on?! Is this my punishment for not buying a new harddisk sooner?!_

I didn't get enough time to think and neither did I get an answer to my stupid questions.

The world seemed to come to an end and I fell into cold darkness…Okay, okay so that didn't happen.

The last thing I _did_ see was a glimpse of Kakashi's sharingan before everything turned into a bright blue blur and I felt cold air rushing by me and fluffy white clouds were laughing at me…no not literally.

I could hear myself cussing and screaming, but it didn't prevent me falling faster.

Before I knew it, I crashed against something firm…black…red…and blonde..?

Which didn't exactly help. And neither did it break my fall.

The firm, black, red, blonde thingy ended up crashing down with me and I realized that I wasn't the only who was screaming and cussing during my ever so _enjoyable _flight through what seemed to be the sky.

A mass of trees caught my eye before I hit the ground like an idiot and _then_ I fell into cold darkness. Happy now?

_My head hurts…Did I hit a gigantic rock or something? Ugh…my butt itches. _

With mouth full of grass and a painful headache I sat up and moved my hand down to rub a little. Trees surrounded me and there was no sign of the firm, black, red-- Oh why I even bother to say it…The point was that I was alone and I had no idea what the hell just came over me.

I got up from the ground and wiped my mouth, spitting out the bits of green sprites that had forced their into my mouth after I smacked on the grassy field.

It surprised me that I didn't have any bruises…and I wasn't dead.

A cool breeze rushed by me and it blew my dark green hair into my face, making me groan annoyingly. I wiped the hairs from my face and sighed.

…

Wait a sec.

_SINCE WHEN IS MY HAIR __**GREEN**__?!_

Panic written all over my face when my eyes rolled down to undergo another shocking discovery. My clothes…

I was wearing a waist-length pure white jacket with a dark greenish short top that ended just above my bellybutton, along with a tight black skirt that…itched. My shoes had been replaced by those Japanese sandals that you always see Naruto wearing.

Now there were two explanations for this…

One:

Charlotte had found out about my masterplan to tell Rick that she's madly obsessed in love with an imaginary anime guy and she knocked me out in front of my computer and then she dyed my black hair a dark green, changed my clothes, abducted me, shot me into the air with a cannon and dumped me somewhere in the middle of nowhere to get revenge…

…What? It sounds like something she'd do. I swear!

Fine, then don't believe me.

But that only leaves option two:

Something very strange happened and…I have no idea what.

But what I did know, was that this skirt was starting to irritate me. It itched like hell!

I reached down and scratched a little, no longer able to ignore it.

"Ugh…I feel like shit…un."

I froze. That voice just now…it sounded awfully familiar. And Japanese. And for some reason yet to be found, I understood what the voice said.

Slowly, very slowly, I turned around and gasped. Just a few meters away stood the firm, black, red, blonde thingy. I recognized him in an instant.

"DEIDARA?!" At the idiotic screech of his name, the blonde turned his head to me.

_Excellent. I have officially gone insane. No more anime for me!_

I stood there, face to face with the S-rank villain that looked rather amused with my presence.

Oh yeah I forgot.

I was still scratching my butt.


	2. Scene Two

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto land. If I did, then...Well, the world would be in for a _wild_ ride.

**Important Note: I base this fanfic on events from the manga which means that if you don't read the manga, then you might run into unwanted spoilers. You have been warned..**

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I always thought it would be fun to be one of the anime characters in Naruto. You know, just once to see what would happen.

But of course everyone has their own expectations of what it would be like.

It has to be fun and everyone has to like you and you have to get a chance to hook up with the guy or girl you like…

Well, it doesn't work out that way.

At least not for me, the dumbfound teenager who got blown into the air like a ragdoll and ended up crashing against Deidara. Oh yeah and note the fact that he caught sight of me just when I started scratching my butt.

Yeah laugh all you want. It's the stupid itchy skirt's fault I tell you!

Ah damn it all…lets just get this over with.

"Un…Do you know me?" The blonde asked me curiously, his eyes still sparkling with amusement even though I'd removed my hand from my butt.

I just stood there, gawking at him dumbly.

This was happening too fast and there were too many things that didn't make any sense right now. What was I supposed to do?

Tell him:

'Well, yes I know you. You're Deidara from Iwagakure, you're a member of the evil organisation Akatsuki and you love explosions. Oh and did I mention that you're not real and you've got about a gazillion fans lusting after your body?'

…He'd kill me in an instant. Or laugh at me and _then_ kill me.

"Uhm…sort of. I've heard…stories about you. Yes…stories." I blurted out, smiling nervously.

I didn't even realize that I was speaking Japanese fluently.

Deidara grinned impishly and left the tree he was leaning against, advancing towards me.

"Hn…Is that so?" He stopped in front of me, I was too bewildered to move.

_RUN AWAY IDIOT! He did the evil grin thingy, he's up to something!_

Though my mind…well, it's obvious what my mind was yelling at me.

I was too occupied with my thoughts to realize that the villain had averted his eyes elsewhere until I felt myself being watched. Or at least a part of me. No, two parts actually.

"H-Hey! Don't stare at me like that!" I yelped shocked, instinctively wrapping my hands around myself when I noticed that Deidara was staring at my chest.

_God…I thought he was bad in those fanfictions…but he's perverted here too!_

The blonde only seemed to get more amused by my embarrassed reaction, but he continued talking with a serious face. Thankfully.

"You were the one who got me out of that tricky situation, weren't you? Un.." He inquired, studying me intently.

"Huh? What are you talking about--" I looked down at his arm. The arm that should've been sucked into that dimensional space that Kakashi had created. But it was there, still intact.

So I ended up saving one of the bad guys?! Great…Just great.

"Oh _that_! Yeah, I guess so." I answered nonetheless, trying to sound convincing.

_Maybe he'll let me live if I let him think I wanted to save him…I'll be saved!_

"How did you do it? You don't look that powerful, un." He looked at me suspiciously.

…_Okay forget it. He's gonna blow me up. He's a lot smarter than in those fanfics._

There was only one thing I could do now.

"Oh look at the time! It was really nice to chat with you, but I really have to get going."

With the lamest excuse that ever existed, I turned around and prepared myself to run.

"Hold it! You're not leaving yet. Un." He grabbed my shoulder.

_It's now or never! RUN!_

"Well, I think I am. BYE!" I shook his hand off my shoulder and dashed away, surprising myself with the speed that I was running with. I almost felt like one of the ninjas.

Behind me I could hear Deidara cursing and his footsteps soon chased after me. I laughed and stuck my tongue at him over my shoulder. Big mistake.

"HAHA SUCKER! YOU'LL NEVER GET ME--"

SMACK!

I ran into a tree.

Moaning in pain, I sank down and hit the ground hard with my chin, followed by the rest of my body. It hurt too much for me to be able to get up.

Why did I have to be such an idiot?

"Well that was…amusing. Un." An annoyingly familiar voice snickered behind me. "Get up."

"I can't. I think I just broke a rib. Or two." I groaned, my reply muffled by the ground.

The blonde sighed and I felt something tugging at the back of my jacket before my entire body was pulled backwards. I wobbled around on my feet, receiving another wave of laughter from Deidara.

"Ha-ha…I'm leaving. For real this time." I rubbed my sore chin, glaring at the man.

"Not until I get some answers--" He reached out to stop me again, but I was ahead of him this time and slapped his hand away.

My annoyance got the better of me.

"Answers? You want **answers**?! Well, lets start with that nice arm of yours. It would've been sucked into another dimension if I hadn't saved you! That means no more clay devouring hands. You would've been walking around like an armless zombie! Do you _want_ to be an armless zombie, hm? Because I'll gladly turn you into one!"

I exploded in rage like one of his clay birds, glaring at him accusingly.

Deidara looked like he was going to argue, but I didn't let him.

"God…why am I even still talking to you? I hate you! And I hate that stupid tree! _ALL OF THEM_! Do you hear me, trees? I HAAAAATE YOU!" I went on and on, randomly pointing at the trees that outnumbered us.

"Oi--"

"What did I do to deserve this? All I wanted was to watch a stupid anime. Is that too much to ask? For God's sake…I WANT TO GO HOOOOOOOOME!" The next thing I knew, I was whining like a little kid on the verge of tears.

I dropped myself on my knees and abruptly started crying like an idiot. I felt like I was having a mental break down. I didn't even care that Deidara was staring at me as if I was mentally disturbed.

Maybe if I were lucky, it would make him go away.

"Oi, don't cry…" The blonde crouched down beside me, looking troubled and unsure of what to do.

I looked at him with teary eyes and sniffled, making him look even more troubled. For a moment it almost looked like he was showing sympathy for me. Or himself. Yeah probably the latter part...

When I started crying louder, he let out an annoyed groan and lifted the sleeve of his black coat in front of my face, offering it to me to blow my nose and dry my tears.

"Thank you…" I blushed slightly, feeling weird and somewhat surprised that this supposedly evil akatsuki guy was allowing me to use his sleeve as a tissue.

"You better be thankful…Un." He muttered, eying his wet sleeve with a distasteful look when I let go of it.

He got up from his sitting position and shook his sleeve a little, as if he was trying to get rid of the wetness but it didn't really work. I had to keep myself from laughing at his disgusted expression, so I pretended to still be crying a little and held my hand over my mouth.

"Are you done now, un?"

I nodded, sitting up straight.

"Un…Good, then lets go."

"What? I'm not going with you! Didn't you hear anything of what I was yelling just now?" I exclaimed, irritated.

"I heard…You almost made me deaf with your ranting, un. But I can't let you go. I can't trust you yet, you might betray my location. Sasori-danna wouldn't like that.." He muttered the last part more to himself, before turning back to me with a serious face.

_Oh so he doesn't know that Sakura and Chiyo beat the hell out of Sasori yet…And how the hell would I betray his location when I don't even know where the hell I am?_

I chuckled at my own thoughts, it was a habit. Deidara immediately glanced at me suspiciously, probably thinking that I was up to something.

Okay, bad habit.

"Hmph. Laughing at me, are you?" He leered, placing his hand in the pocket where he kept his clay. Oh crap. Is he seriously planning on blowing me up?!

Three small clay birds sprang up when he brought out his hand again. "I'll teach you not to mess with Iwagakure no Deidara! Un!"

At his command the birds flew towards me swiftly, making me gasp and look for cover but I knew that there was no way I would escape in time.

"KATSU!"

Deidara gave that all too familiar signal for his clay birds to come and blow me up, and all hell broke loose in my mind. I honestly believed that I was going insane.

_HE'S GONNA FREAKING KILL ME!! _

My body acted on it's own, running, ducking, spinning and even _crawling _to get away from those evil little birds. Hell, I was starting to feel what it must be like one to be one of Sasori's puppets.

And no, it's not funny.

_Okay it's obvious by now that I'm stuck in his world so…if I were a ninja…I'd attack him with a powerful counterattack, but the only problem is…I DON'T KNOW ANY NINJUTSU._

I was still jumping around like a retarded ballerina while my mind went berserk with trying to find a solution to get me out of this mess.

The birds decided to join forces and they trapped me in between them, all three of them charging at me from different sides. I leapt up in the air, hoping they'd attack and blow up each other but the nasty things proved to be more clever than that and instead they chased me.

_Okay seriously, this isn't funny anymore! I've got a stupid ninja out-fit, weird green anime hair and the stupid sandals so I have to know at least ONE damn jutsu!_

"DIE!" I shrieked, changing my strategy by trying to kick one of the birds.

…It blew up.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! THAT HURT DAMNIT! YOU ALMOST BLEW UP MY FOOT--"

While I was being tormented by my incapability of winning against Deidara's persistent creatures, the blonde made himself comfortable and started laughing at me.

_Just great. First my foot and now you're trying to blow up my ego?!_

I wanted to yell something at him, but let my guard down. The two remaining birds closed in on me and I only got to notice that when it was too late.

"KYAAAAAH!" My first instinct was to duck and hold my hands over my head, but I ended up making a prayer to God. Though I never believed in 'the Lord'…but I thought that now would be a good time to start.

I closed my eyes and released my hands, afraid to look at the dangerously close birds.

And then 'BOOM! BOOM!' said the earth. I instantly opened my eyes.

…_Huh?_

My eyes had opened just in time for me to see two gigantic boulders in front of me that had squashed Deidara's birds before they could explode.

"Okay…weird-- WOAH!" I yelped, jumping away startled when another boulder smashed onto the ground next to me. And then another boulder smashed down. And another.

It didn't take very long before it was practically raining boulders. Really, I'm not lying.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON UN?!" Oh and it seemed that Deidara noticed too.

"Every woman for herself!" I exclaimed randomly, deciding to do what I did best.

_RUUUUUUUN FOREST RUUUUUUN!_

My legs carried me away from the sounds of smashing stones as fast as they could and the blonde akatsuki member was soon running beside me, agreeing that he'd better run before he'd end up getting squashed to death.

"What the hell did you do to active this?! UN!" Deidara demanded shocked, looking over his shoulder to make sure that we were still ahead of the raining boulders.

"Why are you complaining? You're the one who's always saying that art has to be a BANG!"

"This isn't art, this jutsu is suicide!"

"Says you! This happens to be the first jutsu that I ever performed and I can't even enjoy it!"

"It's not even **enjoyable** to begin with, un! Now make it STOP!"

"Like you stopped your birds when I was running for my life?!"

"That's not the same, I was just having a little fun! I wasn't going to let you die, un!"

"Well maybe you should've told me that sooner, because I have no idea whatsoever of how to stop this! And even if I could--WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

Without warning the sadistic blonde threw me over his shoulder. "You're too slow, un." He simply said, and quickened his running pace. Looking over his shoulder, I had a perfect view of the boulder storm that began to look further away from us now Deidara was doing the running.

The mass of trees was starting to grow smaller and soon we weren't even in the thick forest anymore, but near a rocky cliff where he started jumping over the rocks with little effort.

_What a show-off--ACK!_

My thoughts were interrupted when Deidara abruptly threw me on the ground like a bag of potatoes, after stopping at the highest point at the cliff. He was looking around thoughtfully, narrowing his visible eye when he stared back at the distant forest.

"Ow...Next time, warn me before tossing me on the ground like that!" I hissed, rubbing the sore spot on my back that had broken my fall.

"Shut up. We're being followed, un…" He muttered, grinning thoughtfully.

"Followed?" I repeated dumbfound, averting my eyes to where he was staring.

"Hmm…That jinchuuriki really is odd…I have to hurry up and find my bird…It should've crashed somewhere around here, un." Deidara murmured to himself, glancing into different directions.

_Bird? ..Didn't I read something about this in the manga?_

I frowned, pondering about what **should** have happened if I hadn't accidentally knocked Deidara into safety.

_Hmm…Deidara should've been found by Naruto and Kakashi and he should've been attacked by Naruto…Then Deidara escapes by creating a clone…Oh yeah and Naruto finds the bird that Deidara used to transport Gaara--_

"THAT'S IT!" I caught Deidara's attention, who raised his eyebrow at me.

"What happened to Gaara?! Your stupid bird should've been carrying him around!" I blurted out carelessly, pointing at the blonde accusingly.

"Carrying around Gaara? …How do **you** know about that, un?" He stared at me, looking somewhat caught off guard because I knew something about the situation.

"Ah…Eh…Everyone in the sand village knows that you've captured him!" I shot back quickly, not sounding very convincing to myself but the blonde fell for the excuse.

"Hmm…So you're from the sand village as well?"

"Uh no, I just travel a lot..."

"Then from what village _did_ you come, un?"

_The hidden village of the REAL world. Oh but wait, you don't know that exists because YOU are not REAL!_

"Uh…nowhere really.." I became nervous, my eyes darting down as though I wanted to find a proper lie written in the rocks.

"Then where were you _born_?" Deidara continued, starting to sound annoyed.

I cringed. "Uh…Konoha?"

"Konoha, un? Wait…So you're familiar with the Kyuubi kid?!"

"Uh kinda." Before I knew it, I made the worst mistake.

_What are you doing idiot?! You don't know Naruto personally, but just from watching him! Now Deidara will blow you up for sure! Or WORSE, he'll use you as bait! You moron!_

While my mind rudely declared to me that I was a pathetic moron with two possibilities of a terrible fate, I had to deal with the uncomfortable, mischievous gaze that Deidara had plastered on his face.

He opened his mouth to speak, with an evil smirk on his lips and just when I prepared myself for the worst--

"GIVE GAARA BACK, BASTARD!"

I looked up just in time to see Deidara's cheek getting smashed by Naruto's fist.


	3. Scene Three

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Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto land. If I did, then...disaster. Absolute disaster. Fear the day that I become a mangaka.

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"GIVE GAARA BACK, BASTARD!"

"What the- GWAA!"

Smash!

A splatter of blood hit my cheek and shirt and a cloud of sand whirled up from the ground when Deidara hit the ground with the gracefulness of a flying_ pig_.

"Ew, _ew_, **EW**!" I yelped, refusing to wipe Deidara's still warm blood from my cheek with my bare hands, so instead I started waving my hands around helplessly.

_Get if off me! GET IT OFF ME!!_

"OI! Don't just stand there like an idiot and get over here, un!" The destructive artist yelled at me after getting up from the rocky ground. He got into a fighting-stance, wiping his bloody lip with an irritated look on his face.

I stopped panicking at the sound of his blunt command and shot him a glare.

"Don't call me an idiot! You got your filthy blood all over me…ew! And why the hell should I come over to you? You-You- You're the **enemy**!" I exclaimed defiantly, pointing at my originally green shirt that now had a thick red stain on it.

Deidara rolled his visible blue eye and muttered something that sounded like 'why am I always stuck with the idiots, un' before we were both interrupted by an 'ahem' noise.

Oh yeah, I forgot.

Naruto was still there, glaring at Deidara with a balled up fist that appeared to be eager to punch the cocky villain a second time. Kakashi was also there, but he was observing us with more caution.

"Naruto be careful, it looks like he's got reinforcements this time." The silver haired jounin told Naruto warningly, narrowing his sharingan eye at me.

…_Eh?_

I blinked at his comment and glanced around briefly, trying to find those 'reinforcements' that Kakashi was talking about, but I found none.

…And then I got the message.

_W-What?! Does he think I'm on __Deidara side__?! This can't be happening!_

"Hn, I could've expected that you'd be persistent enough to follow me all the way. Didn't expect you to catch me off guard though, un." Deidara stated with a smirk, stepping forward.

"Where is Gaara?!" Naruto demanded, gritting his teeth.

The same question wandered through my mind. I knew that Deidara must've still had his bird when I'd knocked him out of the air, but now that I thought about it…He **didn't** have his bird after that.

_Is that why he dragged me to this place? To find his bird? Did it crash here somewhere?_

I took my eyes off the arguing males for a moment, my eyes gliding over the rocks, the sandy ground, the distant forest and then they landed on the edge of the cliff.

…_Below?_

I glanced back at Deidara, who was smirking smugly at Naruto, looking quite pleased with the effect he was having on the fifteen year old.

"For the last time, where did you leave Gaara?!" Naruto demanded, his red eyes flashing darkly.

"Hmph, why should I tell you? You'll share the same fate as him anyway." Deidara remarked tauntingly, hinting at the fact that Gaara was no longer alive.

"…I'LL KILL YOU!" Naruto yelled, bursting out in rage. Kakashi tried to stop the genin, but Naruto had already launched himself forward, clenching his fists.

My eyes widened with fear and my mind was screaming at my legs to run but I was nailed to the ground. I could see Deidara smirking and slipping his hand into his bag with clay, before Naruto came dangerously close to lashing out at him.

The next few seconds were a rush of insanely fast moves.

"Art is a bang…"

Birds flew out.

"KATSU!"

"NARUTO WATCH OUT!"

Kakashi jumped forward.

BANG!

An explosion of sound, before everything settled down in a matter of mere seconds.

…Whoosh. I faintly heard the sound of flapping wings and familiar chuckling when a cloud of sand whipped over my face swiftly, forcing me to blink my eyes rapidly.

After the waves of sand in the air started to fade, I noticed Naruto and Kakashi standing somewhere near the spot where Deidara used to stand. There were a few remains of clay on the ground that had probably exploded in front of them.

But there was no sign of the blonde akastuki member.

"Damn, where is he?!" Naruto cursed, looking around frustratedly.

"Calm down, he couldn't have gotten that far." Kakashi instructed him calmly, also scanning the area.

Then all of a sudden, another wave of sand clashed with them and me, followed by cocky laughter. As if I didn't know who _that_ was…

"Looking for someone, un?"

Something large and light brown had risen into the air from below the cliff, allowing a very amused looking Deidara to sit on it's back.

_That's the bird that has Gaara! _I gasped, recognizing the shape of the bird because I had already seen it in the manga and the anime a few times.

And to make it even more clear, Deidara let the bird open it's mouth, revealing Gaara who was captured inside it's beak.

"Gaara!" Naruto's eyes widened, somewhat with relief but also with more determination to fight again. Though Deidara had other plans.

The akatsuki member rummaged through his bag, probably looking for more clay, but he pulled his hand back out with an annoyed look on his face.

_Hah! He's out of clay!_

I grinned at my discovery, relieved to see that the blonde wasn't capable of creating his destructive art objects anymore.

…But that would cause a less relieving result.

"Hn, I'll take my leave for now…Damn clay…Though I'll fight you again soon, un." Deidara declared, throwing his head back with a smirk.

"No! Give Gaara back NOW!" Naruto yelled, wanting to jump back into the fight again.

Deidara merely mocked him with a wave of arrogant laughter, his bird flew up higher, preparing to fly away with the Kazekage still in it's beak.

_Oh no! This can't happen, it'll completely change the original plot! _

I bit my lip, feeling my heart beating faster. If only I could stop him!

If only I knew a long-distance ninjutsu or whatever Kakashi always blabbed about in the manga!

If only I KNEW one damn jutsu!

…

…Hey but wait a sec…I _do_ know one! …Sort of?

I put my hands together, entwining my fingers to make a prayer.

_Oh God, please let this work without getting myself killed. _

"Ahahaha--WHAT THE HELL?!" Deidara's triumphant laughter was put on hold when his bird's head nearly got chopped off by a gigantic boulder.

Then a wing nearly collided with another boulder. And another.

And yet another.

In case you're wondering…Yes, it's raining boulders _again_.

"YOU! STOP THAT INSANE INARTISTIC JUTSU, RIGHT NOW UN!" Deidara screamed at me, trying to manoeuvre through the uncoordinated stones that kept falling out of the sky randomly.

I just laughed at him, not noticing the stares I was getting from a certain jounin and his student.

"Ah…no. Operation; Squash-Deidara-with-insane-inartistic-unstoppable-jutsu has now officially started! Consider it payback for calling me an idiot!" I sang back tauntingly, raising my eyebrows suggestively.

In response I received multiple bad words that I shall not repeat out loud. However I can tell you that they only made me laugh at him louder.

Oh how I enjoy getting sweet revenge…

SMACK!

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

…Okay that did **not** sound good.

I looked back up just in time to see Deidara getting thrown off his bird by one of my crazy boulders, his body disappeared somewhere in the distant blue sky and then…

SMASH!

…Then another boulder crashed down onto THE BIRD'S HEAD.

"OH MY GOD! I KILLED GAARA?!"


	4. Scene Four

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto land. If I did own it however...Every male member of the anime would be forbidded to wear a shirt at ALL times...With an exception for Kakashi. He has to walk around _mask_-less too.**

* * *

I'm not an idiot.

No really.

I know a lot of things!

Ask me to cook and I'll fix you a decent meal.

Ask me how to bribe your parents into raising your allowance and you'll be swimming in money in no time.

Ask me to help you study for a big test and I'll stick with you until you get it.

Ask me to kick that bitchy popular girl's ass and I'll _gladly_ do it.

Ask me for tips on how to attract that cutie you've been drooling at for weeks and I'll write you an entire book.

Ask me how to squash the Kazekage like an ant by hurling gigantic stones at him that'll crack his skull…piece of cake!

…

…

Oh…my…God…I forgot…

I KILLED GAARA, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?! I'M SUCH AN **IDIOT**!

NARUTO IS GOING TO KILL ME!!

Horrible realization bitch-slapped me in the face once I heard the undeniable truth splattering onto the ground with a loud thud and the sounds of bits and pieces of clay breaking apart.

Or to be more exact:

After being hit on the head by my one of my gigantic boulders, Deidara's now _headless_ bird was sent flying to the ground and exploded into millions of bits and pieces of clay.

But now the part where the horrible realization kicks in…

Gaara was still _**INSIDE**_ the bird's beak when it got hit.

So for all those who still don't get it...That's how to squash the Kazekage like an ant by hurling gigantic stones at him that'll crack his skull…!

…

I'm so dead, aren't I.

"Gaara!"

"Naruto, wait!"

I watched as Naruto moved forward to jump off the cliff to find Gaara, but he got pulled back by Kakashi who tried to calm him down.

"Naruto, calm down--" The jounin began, but the blonde shoved him away angrily and his fierce red eyes clashed with my startled green ones.

"YOU!" He hissed once he acknowledged my presence, glaring at me intensely.

I gulped, starting to back away timidly. I knew what was going to happen once he got that hateful look in his eyes and I wasn't planning on staying to undergo his actions.

My legs moved to leap up in the air, but I wasn't quick enough. Naruto already noticed I was trying to make a run for it and he charged at me, summoning a familiar bright blue ball in his right hand.

_Rasengan?!_

It felt like my heart skipped a beat, only to beat twice as fast when I recognized the all too famous jutsu. But right now wasn't the time to be admiring the sight, because it had appeared to attack me.

My body automatically took on a defence stance, my arms shielding my front body because it was too late to make an escape now. I kept my eyes on Naruto, tensing up when I realized that if he'd hit me directly, there'd be no way I'd get away without injuries.

But…what could I do?

"RASENGAN!" Naruto shouted, nearing me.

I snapped my eyes shut, not wanting to see what was going to happen to me. I could only hear Naruto's fast footsteps pounding on the ground, his heavy breathing, the attack getting closer and…

"Oushiro...no jutsu..?" The words came to my mind faintly and rolled off my tongue like a foreign language. I had never heard them before, yet they sounded familiar.

In my mind I saw the image of a distant royal fortress made out of stone…boulders..

Then it literally smashed down in front of me.

My eyes flew open when the colossal wall made a grand entrance and it blocked everything in front of me. Including Naruto.

"Gah!" I heard Naruto's surprised voice before his rasengan collided with the other side of the fortress and I heard a powerful explosion. But the wall remained undefeated and still towered high above me, without a visible scratch.

I stared at it with wide eyes, my mouth falling open with amazement.

The reddish, brown stones that the fortress consisted of, looked suspiciously a lot like the boulders I had used earlier. In fact, they probably _were _the same type.

…Did this mean that they were originally meant to form _this_ jutsu? Oushiro no jutsu?

"Naruto! Are you okay?!" I shook myself out of my thoughts when I heard Kakashi talking to Naruto, both of them more occupied with themselves rather than with me.

I took that chance to run away with the little strength I had left, suddenly feeling unusually drained and tired. I stopped running in the forest, finding a safe spot in a large tree that was sheltered by big green leafs.

There I fell asleep.

* * *

_I'm hungry…I'm thirsty…Ugh my butt itches…_

I woke up in the middle of the night with mixed desires, unable to satisfy any of them. Well, I was able to satisfy one of them, but due to a certain accident with that pervert Deidara I refused to ease it.

"Stupid itchy skirt." I grumbled in unison with my empty stomach, sitting up straight.

I looked around slowly, taking a good look at my surroundings while I sat in the tree. After deciding that two particularly angry shinobi and one particularly angry akatsuki member hadn't followed me, I climbed out of the tree.

Then I was left at mercy of the memories of the events that took place in the past 24 hours. Or rather the _disasters_ I caused in the past 24 hours.

Mainly the Deidara incident, because I can still imagine that stupid smug smirk of him when he caught me scratching my butt. I bet the pervert is still smirking!

And the Gaara incident…Oh dear God, Gaara!

Why did I have to use that stupid jutsu?! Naruto is going to hunt me down for sure!

"…I want to _hoooome_!" I wailed to the trees, my mind being overflowed with too many unpleasant emotions.

I missed tons of things; my family, my house, my friends, my stupid computer, a clean bathroom, warm food, candy, television, music…Hell, even going to school and doing homework was starting to sound better than having to go through this!

And Charlotte…I missed my annoying sister with her weird Shikamaru obsession.

I wanted to go back home. No matter what I had to do.

…Okay fine, so there _were_ more than enough things that I would absolutely _not_ do, because I'm not THAT much of an idiot, but you get what I mean!

Though I knew there were quite a few obstacles that I needed to deal with first.

Starting with how I got here and how I would get OUT of here as soon as possible.

And how I could avoid getting tracked down by a certain blonde genin who hated my guts while doing so.

I needed to gather some informatio--

_Stomach grumbles._

…Okay screw all that. I've got more important business. Like getting **food**!

Which would most probably be a rather big obstacle, seeing as I was standing alone in the pitch-black darkness of the night…in the centre of an enormous green maze of trees.

* * *

Once upon a time there was a very tired and very _hungry_ girl in a very bad mood.

Despite being at the youthful age of seventeen, the girl had had experienced more difficulties and natural disasters than could be healthy for a normal teenager.

After realizing she'd ended up the anime world of Naruto, getting laughed at by one of the sadistic anime characters and escaping from more than one close encounter with death…

She felt as though she'd been thrown into a VERY messed up, sick version of Alice in Wonderland.

Or in her case, Alice in Disasterland.

"Stop referring to yourself in third person…" I told myself sleepily, strolling forward at a painfully slow pace because I couldn't bring myself to walk any faster due to fatigue.

For the past few hours, I'd been walking around in circles through the gigantic forest that kept me trapped in it's green maze. It seemed as though there was no exit in this place and my hunger for food and longing for sleep didn't do me any good.

But I couldn't afford to sleep right now…and there was no damn thing to eat around here without risking potential food poisoning, so…

The only thing I could do for the time being, was mope, walk, breathe and think of weird stories so I wouldn't go completely insane.

Alice in Disasterland was my current favourite.

I couldn't quite relate Little Red _Ninja_ hood and Beauty and the _Ninja_ to my building frustration and stress, they weren't really disastrous enough.

…Okay, never mind. I'm losing it here.

_Must…get…out…of here…before…going…__CRAZY__…!_

I felt like I would be ready to go see a shrink any minute now, when suddenly a small spark of hope finally hit my eye and-- Oh no wait that's the stupid sun…

I blinked at the warm rising rays of light that broke through the dark blue sky, indicating that dawn had arrived. A few birds shook themselves out of their slumber, cheerfully chirping to greet each other.

Butterflies and other bees were starting to buzz over flowers with delight, the life of the woods waking up slowly and peacefully.

It made me feel out of place, seeing as I was pretty much dying to get some SLEEP. And all the happy noises were irritating me…

In my self-centred annoyance, I kicked a tree and watched surprisedly as something golden brown and round dropped down from one of it's branches. I raised my eyebrows at the weird thing, something telling me that I'd seen it on TV before…but what?

Bzzzzz. Bzzzz. **BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!**

"HOLY CRAP!" I shrieked when a yellow black, stripy insect with wings jumped out of the golden brown thing, others following it and soon there was a whole buzzing army of them.

_Out of all trees I kicked at the one with a freaking bee's nest?! Does God hate me THAT MUCH?!_

My mind yelled at me to run away and that's what I did, while screaming in a high pitched voice and waving my limbs wildly around like some crazy person who had eaten too much sugar.

But the bees were of course still pissed off and eager for revenge, violently jabbing their behinds at me to sting me. I was lucky to have a bit of that ninja speed, but even with that I was still worn out from lack of sleep and food.

_I won't be able to keep up this pace for much longer! What am I gonna do?!_

The buzzing sounds behind me were growing weaker, some of them were giving up after a while but it didn't matter. I was at my limit and I couldn't keep on running anymore.

…_The only thing I can do now is--!_

I stopped near a tree, sought cover behind it and entwined my fingers together.

"Oushiro no jutsu!"

The familiar sound of heavy rows of stones booming on the ground deafened my ears and grass sprites and dust whirled up in front of me.

When I looked up, I gazed at the impressive big wall I'd summoned, it was transparent instead of solid and it started fading quickly but at least it protected me from the bees.

Sweat trickled down on my forehead and my shoulders were moving up and down rapidly, trying to steady my breath. I could feel that I was truly at my limit now, I couldn't move a muscle at will.

"Hm? Is someone there?" I heard a soft voice calling out from a distance, though it didn't sound too far away from me.

I tried to turn my head slightly and my knees buckled without warning, forcing me down to the ground with a startled gasp escaping from my lips. My emerald eyes widened in shock.

_I can't believe how weak I am right now! What's going on?_

"Oh! Are you okay?!" The voice was closer this time, a young girl's voice, bringing me out of my thoughts.

Drowsily I looked up, my surroundings blurring even though I tried hard to focus. The first thing that came into vision was…pink hair?

"…S-Sakura?"

"Eh? How do you know-- Hey, pull yourself together!"

I couldn't respond. My mind had already sunken into darkness.

A white room unfolded before me as I opened my eyes. Bright, warm light gently stroked my face and a fresh breeze of wind entered through the half open window.

It was so peaceful. I felt so peaceful. …Maybe a little **too** peaceful.

Oh no. It couldn't be!

WAS I DEAD?!

"Good morning! I'm glad to see you woke up." An angelic voice greeted me cheerily and a woman dressed in a pure white dress stepped into my room.

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously and studied her intently, sighing relieved afterwards.

Good. She didn't have a pair of oversized white wings or a dull halo stalking her above her head, so at least I wasn't _dead_.

"Uhm…Where am I?" I asked carefully when she stood next to my bed.

"Ah, in the hospital of course. Haruno-san found you near the edge of Konoha's forest, she brought you here after you fainted." The woman, who was apparently a nurse, explained smilingly.

"Haruno-san? As in…Haruno **Sakura**?" I raised my eyebrows, watching as the nurse nodded.

"Yes, she was looking for herbs for her medical training. You're lucky she happened to be searching in the neighbourhood." The nurse continued, sounding quite proud of the kunoichi.

"Ah yeah, I guess I am." I went along, smiling weakly. The nurse kept talking about how great Sakura was for a while and I pretended to listen, until she had to check up on another patient.

"I'll make sure to tell her you're awake when I run into her. I'm sure she'll want to pay you a visit with her friend Naruto." The nurse reassured, waving me goodbye.

"Thanks." I mumbled, yawning a little after she left. I snuggled against my pillow, moving around till I was feeling comfortable enough to take another nap.

And then it hit me.

"NARUTO IS COMING OVER?!"

* * *

**Quick note:** For those who don't really know the _Japanese_ language, **Oushiro no Jutsu** means **'Royal Fortress Technique'**.

* * *


	5. Scene Five

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. **

* * *

_They're out to get me! They're going to kill me!_

"Hello?"

_I have to get out of here! They'll sting me to death!_

"…Are you okay?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! DON'T STING ME!"

The moment I felt something shaking my shoulder, I shot up in the air so high that it almost surprised me that my head didn't hit the ceiling.

I looked around bewildered, searching for black and yellow stripy buzzing monsters…but all I found was a nurse who was sending me a freaked-out look.

"Uhm…Sorry…Bad dream…Bees and stuff, you know." I muttered with an embarrassed look on my red face, sinking back down under the sheets of the hospital bed.

_Why do I __**have**__ to make a fool out of myself in front of everyone?!_

"Ah, I see…Well then, I only came to tell you that Haruno-san has arrived and she'll come up to your room soon. I thought I should let you know, good day." The nurse quickly said, looking eager to get away from me as soon as possible.

But then again who wouldn't, when I'm acting like a total lunatic.

The nurse softly closed the door behind her it was quiet for a while. Until I heard voices.

Awfully familiar voices.

"Come on Naruto! You can eat ramen later!"

"Buuuuuuuut Sakura-chan! I'm hungry _now_!"

"Shut up and move!"

My eyes bulged. I completely forgot that Naruto would be joining Sakura!

"Hide! I have to hide somewhere!" I hastily rolled out of bed and landed on my butt in the process but I got up anyway, despite still feeling sore throughout most parts of my body.

My eyes went from left to right, searching for a giant closet to jump in or something. But the damn room only had a stupid and some hospital stuff and NO CLOSET! Not a single decent place to hide!

_The bed!_

"Konnichi wa! How are you feeling…eh?" Sakura stepped into the room with Naruto trailing behind her, a surprised look landing on her face when she saw the shape of a body tucked tightly underneath the white sheets of the hospital bed.

"Not…so good! Please come back another time!" I pretended to sound really sick from underneath the protection of my sheets, desperate to keep my identity a secret from Naruto.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan will know how to make you feel better." I heard Naruto say cheerfully, footsteps edging closer to my bed…

"Yes, maybe I can help. I know quite a lot about medicine." The pink haired girl agreed, also stepping towards me.

"N-No! That's alright! I'll be fine!" I yelped back, starting to panic.

_This isn't going as I planned! This is terrible!_

"C'mon, don't be so shy." I heard Naruto encourage before a hand began to tug at the sheets, trying to pull my only shield from the outside world away.

"I said I was _fine_." I objected, quickly reaching out to keep my shield in place.

But the blonde just HAD to be stubborn and he continued to tug.

"Oi! Will you come out already?" The genin demanded, a somewhat annoyed tone becoming clearly noticeable in his voice.

"No, I don't want to!" I yelled back, losing my temper with his stubbornness. "Let go!"

"Then come out!"

"No, you let **go** first!"

"No, you come **out **first!"

"Oi, oi! Calm down already. Naruto if she doesn't want to--" Sakura tried to reason, but it was too late.

"COME OUT!" With a final powerful tug at my sheets, Naruto pulled them away from me forcefully, causing me to fall backwards with a shocked scream.

My upper body collapsed on the floor at the other side of the bed while my legs were still spread out on the bed oddly, giving me a rather…_interesting_ appearance.

"Oooh…" I heard Naruto utter a sound of amazement and I realized what kind of a horrible position my body was currently maintaining.

"What the-?!" I yelped embarrassedly, forcing my legs back together and falling off from the bed completely with a hard thud on the cold floor.

_Did I just flash my panties at Naruto?! …I HATE YOU, YOU EVIL SKIRT!!_

"Naruto, look what you did! You pervert!" Smack!

"Itai! But Sakura-chan, I couldn't have known that would happen! She-- Ah it's you!" Naruto gasped and pointed at me with an accusing finger while holding the red cheek (that Sakura had smacked) with his other hand.

I stood up, rubbing my sore shoulders while the blonde looked me up and down with a flabbergasted expression. The pink haired kunoichi also turned to me, with a curious look.

"Don't tell me you two know each other." She frowned, sending us a questioning look.

"She's one of those akatsuki jerks! I saw it, she was with Deidara--!" Naruto shouted.

"I am not! Didn't you see me throwing boulders at that stupid blonde idiot?!" I cut him off, getting angry.

"Who are you calling a stupid blonde idiot?!"

"Not you! _Deidara_! Though you're not exactly the most intelligent--"

"Ano…Is this going to go on for long time?" A more mature male voice interrupted us, making us turn to the open window where a familiar jounin was grinning through his mask, looking rather entertained.

"Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here?" Sakura asked the silver-haired man, watching as he fully entered the room.

"Well, I originally came to see how you two were doing, but I see you're not alone." Kakashi hinted at me, looking at me with a slightly distrustful look, but mostly bored as usual.

I felt myself becoming the centre of attention when two more pairs of eyes settled on me.

"Will you come along quietly or..?" The sensei inquired, gazing at me with watchful eyes.

I merely sighed in defeat, shrugging. "You say that as if I actually have a choice."

* * *

"For the last freaking time! I-am-not-one-of-those-akatsuki-jerks!" I exclaimed, after being asked the same annoying question over and over again.

It's been about an hour since Kakashi _nicely_ threw me into Tsunade's office, so she could chew me out in a merciless game of 'death by pointless questions'.

It's almost as if they enjoy wasting their time.

"Then why were you with Deidara? You even blocked Kakashi's attack to save him!" The fifth hokage demanded, eying me accusingly.

_I didn't block Kakashi's attack, you old hag. It was an accident! Ah…but I can't tell you that, now can I? Not without telling you that I came from a different world…_

"I didn't block his attack, I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time." I held on, though I was telling the truth for the most part since it did feel like that.

Tsunade sighed, seeming displeased with the non-existent results of her interrogation with me.

I gave her a sympathetic look, not wanting to be in this situation either. Truthfully, I wanted to tell her what really happened. But wouldn't that just make things worse?

They'd either not believe me or if they would believe me, the questions would just continue to pile up endlessly…

_But it's pointless to just sit here forever! Not too mention incredibly boring._

"Uhm…Tsunade--" Glare. "I mean _Hokage_-**sama**." I quickly corrected myself, gulping at the intense gaze those eyes were sending me.

"What is it?" She muttered, rubbing her temples.

"I think I can tell you what happened…somehow…but I don't know if you'll believe me." I answered, receiving a more pleased look.

"At least it's a start…Let's begin with your name then." The hokage said, looking at me expectantly.

"Al--Miraiko." Rolled out of my mouth.

…Huh?

"I mean All--Miraiko." Tsunade raised an unsure eyebrow for a moment at my struggling with words, but she nodded and scribbled down something on the notebook in front of her anyway.

I, on the other hand, wasn't so calm.

_I can't say my own name anymore! Since when am I called Miraiko?! I'm ALLY! Ally Hallet!_

_"_Don't you have a last name?"

"Oh no, my full name is All-- Sora no Miraiko."

"Alright then, Sora no Miraiko. Tell me what you know."

_WHAT?! No, it's Hallet! ALLY HALLET, say it!_

But somehow my lips just wouldn't form my real name and I was stuck with the new name that I blurted out a few seconds ago.


	6. Scene Six

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. I _do_ own Miraiko aka Ally.**

* * *

"It's a rather strange story, but for now I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, seeing as you've given me some interesting answers…"

"Thank you, hokage-sama!"

"You do realize that what you've told me is very hard to believe, don't you?"

"Believe me…I do…Even I can't believe what happened sometimes…"

"Hn, very well then. You may stay in Konoha for the time being, though I'll have you supervised by Kakashi who'll watch your every move. Remember that."

"I will…"

And with that Tsunade gave me the cue, a nod, to go outside to meet up with Kakashi.

_I bet he's been eavesdropping the whole conversation…_

I stood up from my chair and walked out obediently like she'd asked me, quietly closing the door behind me.

Okay, you're probably feeling a little lost here right now so I'll explain what just happened.

After realizing that my mouth somehow rejected my real name and would only blurt out the name Sorano Miraiko, I decided to give in and just go with that name.

Then I had no choice but to start explaining to Tsunade where I came from and _how_.

Though the 'how' part was and still _is_ a mystery to me, so I couldn't completely explain that but I did tell her that I'm not from their world.

Which wasn't exactly a dream job, if you get what I'm saying. She was staring at me as if I were some kind of nutcase most of the time. Not that I'd expected her to do otherwise.

Anyway, here's what happened:

* * *

"So, basically, you're saying that you came…from the _future_?" The blonde's eyes penetrated mine with a disbelieving frown.

"A place where the future and the past are being created yes, sort of. And yes I know it sounds crazy." I answered with a nervous smile.

_Did I describe it right? I mean, it sort of is the truth isn't it? Since the manga author decides everything that has happened and will happen in the manga and I __**read**__ everything he plots…Oh God, I hope she believes me…_

"Indeed it does…Do you honestly expect me to believe this stuff…" I heard her murmur under her breath as she rubbed her temples a little, looking deep in thought. It was quite obvious that she wasn't buying it.

But who could blame her?

Since I just openly declared that I'd somehow been thrown into _her_ world, out of _another world_ where _her world's_ future is being created. Heck, even I would call myself a nutcase if I hadn't known that I was speaking the truth.

"You said that you've also been able to look into the pasts of people…Can you give me some examples so I can at least **try** to believe you?" She asked, still looking pained.

"Uh sure…How about some things of Naruto's past?" I suggested, grinning slightly. I was eager to dig up some embarrassing things that I knew about the peeping tom…

"Go ahead."

"Lets see…He's cheerful, likes challenges, he's a bit stupid, he's caring, he's crazy about ramen, he's a loyal friend and he rushes into things too fast sometimes. He has the Kyuubi sealed inside of him, his first kiss was with Sasuke, he tried to kiss Sakura once by transforming into Sasuke but he messed up terribly, his dream is to become the hokage one day but I highly doubt that he'll become that if he keeps on being an idiot, he once helped you with a battle against Kabuto, he claims to hate Sasuke but actually thinks of him as his best friend and he wants to save Sasuke who's currently residing with Orochimaru for power. Is that enough for now?"

I watched as Tsunade's face showed a brief sign of amusement before it shifted back to that serious, doubtful look.

"Hmm…What about Sasuke? How much do you know about him?"

"He wants to kill his brother Itachi, because he killed his family and clan, leaving Sasuke as the only survivor. Uhm…Sasuke appears arrogant, mean, anti-social and vengeful most of the time, but he wasn't like that before that incident. Oh and he has a curse seal on his neck where Orochimaru bit him and he also abandoned Konoha to train with Orochimaru." I summed up easily.

And…Well, from that point, Tsunade made me tell about her, Sakura, Kakashi, other teams and other events that took place in Konoha which I all answered with little trouble. Quite boring if you ask me.

…What?

Don't look at me like that. It isn't my fault that the manga is so addictive! I just read it a lot!

"I see…You do seem to know everyone well…in great detail even. But I still haven't gotten an answer to the most important question yet." Tsunade brought me out of my thoughts, returning my attention to her.

"If you really came from the future, then what will happen in the future?"

I was about to open my mouth to speak, ready to blurt out the next set of boring answers when I thought of something very important.

_If I tell her what will happen…She'll make other choices…no EVERYONE will make other choices and it'll change everything completely! I can't do that!_

"I can't tell you that." I finally said straightforwardly, confident that I made the right decision.

For a second I could see wariness and disappointment flickering through her eyes, though she didn't immediately yell 'Hah! So you're not from the future!' like I had expected.

Instead she nodded.

"Good answer. It would've been reckless to tell me, wouldn't it?" She stated, folding her arms over her chest with a small smile on display.

"A liar would've given me all kinds of answers straight away just to please me…but someone who truly knows about the future, wouldn't want to ruin it. Though you could still be a liar without good excuses…" She murmured thoughtfully, tilting her head to side slightly while keeping a close eye on me.

I just sat there, staring back at her. I couldn't really do anything but that, aside from hoping that she'd just give my explanation a chance. All sorts of unbelievable things happen around here right? So why _wouldn't_ I be able to come from the future?

"It's a rather strange story, but for now I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, seeing as you've given me rather interesting answers…"

My face instantly lit up and I couldn't help but to shout "Thank you, hokage-sama!"

So, now you know the boring story. Lets get on with the next disaster.

"Hmm, so Tsunade-sama has given you the benefit of the doubt. That's good." Kakashi mused as I followed him out of the building, towards a quiet place where houses were lined up next to each other.

I raised my eyebrows at his words, looking up at him surprised. "That's _good_? I thought you didn't trust me."

The jounin chuckled lightly, smiling through his black mask. "True, I _don't_ trust you. Though I don't think you're that much of a threat either. You're probably just an amateur spy." He shrugged.

"Well, thanks for having so much **faith** me." I muttered sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

He just continued to _smile_ annoyingly.

_I can't believe I ever thought of him as my favourite character! He's such a--_

"Itai-" I stopped moping when I heard someone briefly saying 'ouch' in Japanese and I realized that Kakashi had stopped walking a few meters behind me, holding his hand over his closed sharingan eye.

_What's up with him? Wasn't he being all happy and annoying just now?_

I frowned a little, turning fully around to take a closer look at him. "Uhm…Kaka-- Hatake-san, are you okay?"

"It's nothing…" He replied, despite looking pained by something. His eye. Wait a sec, his eye?

Wasn't he supposed to be in the hospital right after he and Naruto finished chasing Deidara, because his new sharingan cost him too much strength..?

"Ano…Hatake-san, maybe you should sit down for a minute or something." I tried to persuade him into resting for a minute, but he shook his head.

"No, I'm fine. It's nothing really-- Uugh…"

"Ka-Kakashi?! What are you doing--Uwaaah! OW!" Collapse.

And as if things couldn't get any worse today…the sensei fainted, his dead weight collapsing on top of ME without a damn warning!

_Why do all men have to pretend they're fine when they're obviously NOT?! I HATE MEN!_

Though hating men wasn't really helping me in my current situation.

* * *

"Kakashi? Are you awake?"

"Hmm…Where am I?"

"The hospital, you collapsed outside. Miraiko-san was barely able to bring you here."

Tsunade had to suppress a laugh as she glanced over at me; I was still looking pretty beat up from having to drag Kakashi's dead weight all the way to the hospital.

Seriously, you would've never imagined how HEAVY that man is!

The sensei and the hokage talked about Kakashi's new mangekyou sharingan while I went to the bathrooms to fresh myself up a little. Or at least to make myself look less like a walking zombie…

* * *

"What do you think of her?"

"I can't be sure…The entire explanation she gave me sounded like a bunch of nonsense…I'm surprised that she sounded so convinced of herself while she told me."

"So you don't believe her?"

"Of course I don't. And normally I would've gotten rid of anyone who'd spew that kind of crap, but in this case…"

The fifth hokage sighed, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her big chest. Her eyes narrowed as she thought deeply.

"…I don't know. There's something about her that makes me wonder. She doesn't seem to be a spy who's working undercover for a hostile village and if she _is_, she's one hell of an actress."

"Hn, it's not like you to doubt so much."

"What about you then? You've seen her in action during your previous mission."

The silver-haired man briefly looked up at the ceiling, letting the question wander through his mind. "She definitely isn't an accomplice of the Akatsuki, seeing as she didn't appear to be very fond of Deidara. That I can tell you for sure. Though that doesn't leave out the possibility that she does have ill intentions of some kind…"

"Ch. So troublesome." Tsunade gritted her teeth, getting irritated by the complexity of the girl who recently entered her village.

Sorano Miraiko. Seventeen years old. No files from any of the other villages that contained useful information about her.

Almost as if she didn't exist here…as the girl had said. But then again, she could be hiding her true identity, if she were a missing-nin.

But the girl hardly showed any signs of being a skilled ninja with a reason to conceal her identity and judging from Kakashi's previous report about his mission, the girl couldn't even master a jutsu properly without it making go chaotic.

The more that Tsunade thought, the more that she found it less likely that this Miraiko posed a threat to Konoha.

"Hokage-sama?" Kakashi said, drawing the blonde's attention back to him and their surroundings in the hospital.

"I think we should just wait and see what this _Miraiko-san_ is planning to do…Then we'll act."

* * *

"Ha-Ha-HAAAAAAAAAATCHOO!" I let out an unexpected sneeze as I walked through the hall in the hospital, heading towards the bathrooms.

_Ugh…Does this sneeze mean that someone's talking about me? Great…Just great…_

I wiped my nose as I turned left and gave the bathroom-door a light push before walking into the room that had the same dead-pale white colour as the rest of the unpleasant building that reeked of medicine.

"I hate hospitals…" I muttered to myself, lazily moving towards the right wall of the bathroom that had a three mirrors hanging onto it.

I could only pray that my reflection wouldn't be too horrendous for my eyes. Surely it wouldn't be too bad…_right_?

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

Okay screw that.

My eyes clashed with the unappealing green-haired girl that was facing me in the mirror. My hair was a mess. My clothes were a mess. _I_ was a mess.

"Stupid Deidara…" I groaned, tugging at the front of my once green shirt that still had an old reddish brown stain on it from the time that Deidara's blood got splattered on me.

It was just so…_ew_. Thinking about it brought back bad memories…

I zipped up my white jacket to hide my ruined shirt and looked back at the mirror, studying my reflection because I never had the chance to do so before.

Green eyes reflected my annoyance back at me as I started to clean my dirt covered face a little with water from the sink and I combed my green hair with my fingers, trying to get it back in model.

For some reason, the way I looked…it looked familiar. Of course my current appearance wasn't the one I had in real life. Thank God. But I felt like I'd seen my 'anime character' appearance before.

I narrowed my eyes and stared at the floor, digging through my mind to look for an answer.

"Could it be…no…it couldn't be right?" My eyes widened slightly and I immediately turned my head back to mirror where my thoughts were confirmed.

The girl that was facing me in the mirror…there was no doubt that it was…

…_.it's one of the manga girls that I've drawn!_

I gasped in shock, unable to deny it. Every detail on my body fitted with the drawing that I pictured in my mind. The green hair, the eyes, even the clothes!

_Minus the evil itchy black shirt of course. _I thought irritably, reaching down to scratch my right hip a little.

But still, it didn't make sense as to **why** I'd taken on the form of this girl. I had drawn lots of manga characters that looked like ninja girls, so why this particular one?

"Charlotte?" I mumbled thoughtfully, recalling a faint memory of my younger sister.

_'No the hair has to be pink! Not green! As if Shikamaru would ever fall for a girl with GREEN hair! Change it now!' _Charlotte's demanding voice echoed in my mind.

_'Fine, fine! I'll draw you a different one with PINK hair then, but I like this one. Maybe I'll write my own stupid fanfic with it.' _My own voice had joked to her.

It all came back to me. Charlotte had once asked me to make a drawing of a character she wanted to use in her weird obsessive Shikamaru fanfic. But she didn't like it and demanded a different drawing.

I'd kept the drawing though, because I wasn't so picky as the lovely brat. I'd even thought of really writing a fanfic of my own. Without any obsessive fangirl intentions of course…

I could remember that I'd also thought of a few jutsu that my character could use…But I had never actually started writing the story.

"…Great, so I'm trapped in my own Naruto fanfic!" I groaned, slapping the front of my head.

"But I never thought of the name 'Sorano Miraiko'…Heck, I didn't even think of a name for my character to begin with!" I began to think out loud, tapping my forehead stressfully.

_Sorano means…From the sky…Mirai means…Future…Ko means…Child…_

"Future child from the sky?!" I exclaimed, remembering how I had crashed against Deidara **out of the sky** and how I had told Tsunade that I was **a kid** **from the future**…sort of.

"You've got to be kidding me…" I sank down against the wall, dropping my arms beside me.

_Well, at least the name suits me._ An ironic thought made me chuckle to myself.

Somehow it all started to fall in place.

I was unable to walk around in my real body so I took on the form of an anime character that had no name. I could only guess that's why it was automatically given one…one that took my character a little too literally, but still suited me.

_But how the hell did I even get into this world to begin with?..._

Before I could begin to freak out about my next problem, the door of the bathroom opened and a pink haired girl walked in. I instantly jumped up out of surprise, coming face to face with no one other than…

"Ah Sakura-san! W-What are you doing here?" I asked, smiling nervously.

The kunoichi lifted her head slightly, since I was taller than her, and returned my smile with a genuine one. "Don't worry, I only came to see how you were doing. Tsunade-sama told me that you went here."

_Right…She probably just sent Sakura here to make sure I wasn't plotting some evil scheme or something…_

Suspicion made my smile drop and I folded my arms. "I'm perfectly fine…" I muttered bluntly.

"Are you sure? I heard that you dragged Kakashi-sensei all the way back to the hospital even though you only recovered recently…" Sakura laughed a little, giving me a sympathetic look.

I blushed embarrassedly, clearing my throat. "Just tell him to go on a diet or something, my back is still killing me."

Sakura continued to laugh and I lost the cold mood I had been trying to fake. She wasn't one of my favourite characters, but at least she was being nice. Maybe it would be better if I tried to get along with her and talk to her.

"Don't you and Naruto have to go on a mission to find the akatsuki spy yet?" I blurted out before I realized what a mistake I made by saying that.

The pink haired ninja's eyes widened with surprise and her expression revealed some suspicion mixed with curiosity. "How do you know about that?"

_It's set. You're going die the miserable death of the miserable idiot you are. _

My mind mocked me as a tiny droplet of sweat trickled down the side of my face and I turned away my head, swallowing hard.

"U-U-Uhm…Well, you see…Err…"

"Is it true what Tsunade told me about you…?" Sakura interrupted me carefully, making me turn my face back to her.

"Depends on **what** she told you." I replied with the same caution. I was alert enough now to know that I couldn't just jump to conclusions right now.

"Are you an akatsuki spy?"

…They really enjoy pestering me with that stupid question, don't they?

"For the last freaking time, no I am not! And I don't care if Tsunade or you believe me or not, because all I want is to go HOME." I shrieked angrily, throwing in all the frustration I'd been experiencing.

The other girl gave a somewhat surprised look, not looking prepared for the sudden outburst I just had, but instead of adding more accusations, she just nodded.

"Alright, calm down. I don't want to accuse you of anything but…what you told her just didn't sound very convincing to her. She--"

"Yeah, yeah and she consulted with you about my stupid story, because you, and she probably ranted to Shizune too, are one of the only shinobi she can truly trust and blah blah blah. I _know_." I cut her off irritably, gaining another surprised look.

I caught sight of it just in time before she could ask 'how do you know that?' again and then I added, "Future thing, remember?"

"Ah…" She mumbled quietly, staring at me with a blank face.

We stayed silent for a while until Sakura opened her mouth again.

"If you're really from the future…then do you know anything about Sasuke?" She asked hesitatingly, staring at me with a hopeful look in her eyes.

My irritation sank away again and I could see that she really was hoping that I could tell her something about the Uchiha boy.

"He's with Orochimaru, obviously."

"You know I don't mean that!" She replied irritably, clenching her fists tightly.

"And you know that I can't tell you anything besides that." I retorted, letting out an annoyed sigh. Then I looked back at her.

"Look, I would really like to help you and Naruto and find Sasuke for you and all. But I can't. And even if I _would_ help you, it would change everything and nothing would be the same as I'd remember it and then my help would be useless." I explained in a serious tone.

My explanation seemed to trigger something in her and she loosened her clenched fists, her expression softening again.

"Gomen…I just…It's been so long already…I just hoped for a way that would bring him back sooner…" She apologized, getting watery eyes.

I also smiled a little, nodding. "I'm also sorry, really. But I'm sure you'll find a way to bring him back soon and--"

"Sakura-chan are you in here--? AH! YOU! What did you do to make Sakura-chan cry?!"

As if fate was out there to ruin my mood once again, Naruto suddenly walked into the bathroom and started yelling at me as soon as he noticed Sakura's teary eyes.

"I didn't do anything!" I shouted back angrily, moving back slightly when he stomped over to me to face me.

"You said something mean to her, didn't you?! I knew it! You're obviously--"

"Naruto, stop it! She didn't do anything! And what the hell are YOU doing in the GIRL'S BATHROOM?! You can't just bargain in like that--"

I blocked out their voices, I couldn't take the mix of anger and stress anymore. It felt like I was going to explode with all these negative emotions raging back and forth through my body.

"Dattebayo Sakura-chan! She is one of the akatsuki--UWAAAAH!"

CRASH!

The annoying teenage boy jumped back just in time before a familiar big red stone fell out the air, nearly crashing on top of him. Sakura gasped in shock, watching in horror as the boulder made a huge crack in the floor.

I also stared at it awkwardly, before I looked up at the ceiling where a gigantic hole had been formed after I unintentionally summoned the chaotic jutsu due to too much stress.

_Thank God we're on the first floor._

"MIRAIKO-SAN?! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?! YOU DESTROYED THE FLOOR!" Came roaring through the hole in the ceiling, followed by an angry blonde woman's head popping down the hole to glare at me.

…_And too bad that Tsunade was on the second floor with Kakashi…_

* * *


	7. Scene Seven

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land.**

* * *

"Unacceptable! What were you thinking, using that kind of a jutsu in the HOSPITAL?!"

The earth shook violently with Tsunade's rage as she stomped her foot on the floor of her office and awaited my response, regarding my stiffened body with impatience.

"W-Well…You see…I can't control my jutsu that well yet so sometimes when I panic it just happens and I kind of mess up…" I replied in a shaky voice, starting to feel more like a mouse trapped with a cat.

Or in Tsunade's case; a lion. A **big**, angry lion…

"_Kind of_ mess up? You're lucky that that colossal stone of yours missed Kakashi's head by an inch! Not to mention that the patients on the third floor almost had a heart attack from shock as well!" Roared the lion-- err Hokage back at me.

"Gomenasai…" I mumbled the familiar Japanese phrase to apologize quietly, shuffling a little to the right uneasily.

Tsunade let out a long, heavy sigh and muttered some unkind things about me, which I shall not repeat, to herself as she dropped her weight onto her seat.

On my left I could hear the all too familiar annoying boy yawning, looking bored.

"_Neeeee_, Tsunade-baa-chan, when I can go? I didn't do anything, did I?" Naruto asked, folding his hands behind his head.

"You're not going anywhere! I wouldn't call walking into the **women's** bathroom and starting a ridiculous fight nothing. Now be quiet while I think of a decent punishment!" The lioness snapped back, causing him to stiffen up next to me.

"Hmph. This is all your fault, dattebayo!" The blonde whispered to me heatedly, glancing at me with an annoyed look.

"My fault? I haven't done anything to you! You're the one who keeps bugging ME." I hissed back through gritted teeth, making sure that Tsunade wouldn't hear me.

"With a good reason! You're obviously one of the akatsuki." He replied, narrowing his eyes and staring at me accusingly.

"Yeah right. Tsunade already gave me the benefit of the doubt, so you can't prove that!" I rolled my eyes, answering his accusing stare with a knowing smirk.

"You obviously tried to kill Gaara when you were with Deidara! You almost smashed his head for crying out loud." Naruto retorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I did not!...Eh? You mean Gaara isn't dead?!" I gasped, raising my eyebrows surprisedly.

"Of course he isn't dead!" Naruto frowned, looking at me oddly when I almost literally started beaming with relief.

_I didn't kill Gaara! This is great! Now I can finally rest in peace--_

"Shut up! Do you honestly believe that your chitchatting goes unheard?!" Tsunade's irritated growl boomed in the room, making me and Naruto turn back her.

"Gomenasai." The genin and I replied at the same time, exchanging brief glares when we noticed that we responded with the same answer.

The hokage's eyes pierced us like needles, studying our expectant faces with a look that I couldn't read. Then she leaned back against her seat and ran a hand through her long hair.

"Alright. I've decided. Naruto, you will keep an eye on Miraiko for the rest of the day until I find a suitable replacement and--"

"EHH?! WHAT?! You're leaving that akatsuki guy with me?!" Naruto interrupted her, his blue eyes widening with disbelief and shock.

"Who are you calling an akatsuki GUY?!" I exclaimed, jabbing my index finger at his chest.

"Don't touch me! And you probably **are** a guy in disguise, you akatsu--"

"Don't even try to say it! I'm not--"

Before I could finish directing my anger at Naruto, Tsunade intervened with another one of those terrifying outbursts of anger and she _kindly_ threw us out of her office. Leaving me alone with the unappealing young man.

I didn't say a word to him and merely followed him as he began to walk down the stairs to leave the building, rolling my eyes at the way he moped about being stuck with me.

Once we stood outside of the building, walking down the street, he turned to me and placed one hand on his hip while the other moved to my face, nearly poking my eye out with his finger…

"Okay, here's the deal. You are going to do everything I say and if you cause any trouble, I'll kick your ass." The blond stated, grinning like an idiot.

My mood darkened and I shoved his finger out of my face. "I think not. You're supposed to watch over me, not turn me into your slave."

"It's the same thing, I just added this to make sure you won't try anything." Naruto shrugged, still grinning childishly.

I sighed, resisting the urge to roll my eyes for what seemed like the millionth time. I wasn't in the mood for his troublesome games, I had to think of something to distract him…

"…Don't you…have to go look…for a new teammate or something…?" I blurted out randomly, recalling the event from the manga.

For a moment he looked like he didn't know what I was talking about, but then he seemed to get one of those imaginary light bulbs that popped on in his head and he responded with:

"Oh yeah! Hmm…" He put his hand under his chin, pondering about the subject.

I followed him as he started to think out loud, talking about how the new team member couldn't be too good looking, because of Sakura and how he couldn't be too cocky, because it would ruin the teamwork and blah blah…

_This is going to be a loooong day…_

* * *

"Haven't you thought of ANYONE yet?" I whined, getting fed up with the endless tour that Naruto was taking through Konoha.

_Where are Shino, Kiba and Hinata when you need them?!_

"It's been a while Naruto…" A deep voice spoke, making me and Naruto turn to a large old tree that was near the path we were walking.

"…Who?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, eying the guy with the black sunglasses and the long jacket suspiciously.

"It's me…" The guy who was leaning against the tree replied mysteriously.

"Who's _me_?!" Naruto demanded impatiently, pointing at him.

_Ahh this is going to take AGES! Recognize him already!_

I rolled my eyes, stepping forward next to Naruto. "Do you honestly don't recognize that guy? Come on!"

"Wha-?"

I couldn't hold myself back from saying it. "It's SHINO!"

"Ehh Shino?!" Naruto exclaimed, looking perplexed.

"You got it at last…" Shino answered calmly, lifting his head slightly to look at me.

"Well, how's anyone going to recognize your face when you keep it hidden like that?! IDIOT!" Naruto continued, pointing at him wildly.

"Your friend did…" The insect-controlling shinobi answered, referring to me.

"Ah no, this isn't my friend. She is…"

"Shino! You're early!"

"…Ki-Kiba?" Naruto uttered when out of nowhere a large white dog with another boy sitting on top of him leaped out of the air, making a loud entry.

I watched as two boys talked to each other excitedly, though I felt bored myself. I had read this stuff more than once in the manga already…so boring…

"Who is that, Naruto?" Kiba finally turned to me, looking at me curiously.

"I'm his **girlfriend**." I replied sarcastically, causing the genin to blush furiously.

"W-What are you talking about?!" He yelped embarrassedly, making me burst out in laughter.

_Take that Mr.You'reObviouslyAnAkatsukiGuy! Revenge is mine! Hahaha!_

"Uwaah! G-G-Girlfriend…?!" Thunk.

My little inner victory didn't last long though.

"Is that Hinata?!"

"Hinata?! Are you okay?!"

Kiba and Naruto rushed over to the poor kunoichi who had fainted behind a wall right after she heard the dreaded words leaving my lips.

Traumatizing Hinata with a stupid joke. Just my luck again.

* * *

"Fine, fine! I won't call myself your girlfriend anymore. I was only joking you know."

"Hmm I don't think so…You secretly have a crush on me!"

"…I haven't sunken _that low_ yet."

About fifteen minutes after trying to wake up Hinata and failing to negotiate with Kiba about borrowing a member from his team, Naruto and I were on our way to find Shikamaru.

And while doing so, the fifteen year old brat amused himself by making idiotic assumptions that I had fallen for his non-existent charm. Oh joy.

"You do! I can see it--"

"Oh look, there's Shikamaru, please go and pester **him** now." I quickly said after spotting the shadow manipulating ninja, cutting Naruto off so he wouldn't damage my ego any further.

"Like I said…It's troublesome, but I have to sort out the entrants for the chuunin exam. I know we have a sort of friendship thing and I'd like to help you out, but there's just no way I can do what I want either. It's…"

I was leaning against the wall of some building I didn't know while Shikamaru explained to Naruto that he couldn't do much for him either.

_Hmm…For some reason, I get the feeling that I'm forgetting something here…But what?_

"Probably nothing important…" I concluded for myself, staring up at the blue sky.

"That Godaime…You'd think I get enough nagging from my mother." Shikamaru finished, sounding troubled.

"I'll give you a hand in that case." A new voice responded to Shikamaru and Naruto's conversation. "Hey, Shikamaru! Here's the lunch your mother asked me to bring you." The voice continued cheerfully, until a large boy stood in front of us.

"Chouji!" Naruto shouted happily, turning around to face his old friend.

"Chouji…Are you sure you can say that so easily? Don't you have a mission with Asuma-sensei and Ino?" Shikamaru asked sternly.

_So boring…_I rested the back of my head against the wall again, losing my interest in the conversation the boys were having.

"Come on, we can't just ignore Naruto's request. I'll try to talk to Asuma-sensei about it." Chouji encouraged.

_Hmm…But why can't I…_

"Chouji thanks a lot!" Naruto stuck his thumb up thankfully.

…_stop feeling like there's something important about to happen..?_

I glanced back at the boys, watching as Naruto made a comment about Chouji's big appetite.

"Hehe. Still always eating. You're even a bigger fatass than--"

_What?! That's it!_

"Naruto get away!" I jumped up swiftly, pushing him from his spot roughly.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Naruto demanded angrily, hitting the ground at the other side of the road.

"Oushiro no jutsu!"

I managed to set up my large red wall as the three boys all sent me alarmed looks.

"GRUAAAHHH!" I could hear a growl before something that sounded like water splattered against the other side of the wall, confirming the thoughts I had earlier. But I was too occupied with my own thoughts to pay attention to the rest of my surroundings.

"Miraiko above you!"

"What-?" I looked up just in time to see a large monster of ink coming for me before it lashed out at me and sent me flying through the air…

* * *

"Hmm…" Sakura let out a content sigh, smiling as she stretched out her arms in the air and relaxed her muscles.

She was taking a stroll through Konoha after Tsunade and Shizune had asked her to leave them for a while, because they had to take care of some business with the council.

At first she had wanted to stay, but after seeing the heavily irritated look on Tsunade's face once the council was mentioned, Sakura decided that she would rather not risk becoming the target of her master's wrath.

"I hope nothing bad happened though…I wonder what they're talking about, it's been a while since I left." The pink haired kunoichi mumbled to herself.

She kept walking and walked past Ichiraku, the ramen stand where she'd usually ran into Naruto.

_Hmm, I might as well have a chat with Naruto while I'm here. I bet he's stuffing himself with ramen again. _She grinned, knowing how gluttonous he could be when it came to ramen.

"Naruto! Are you here..? Eh? He's not here today?" Sakura frowned, turning to the man who ran the shop.

"No I haven't seen him here today. Though Ayame said that she saw him walking by, looking very concentrated and he was mumbling things about new team members. Isn't that right Ayame?" Teuchi, the owner of the shop, turned to his waitress who nodded.

_New team members? Oh Naruto…You really rush into things, don't you… _Sakura shook her head, smiling to herself.

"Thanks anyway." She thanked the man, before moving on again.

Maybe she could have a chat with Ino then, she'd probably be at the flower shop.

"Eh? A mission? She went to find Chouji? Oh…Thanks anyway." Unfortunately, she had no luck there either. She walked away from the flower shop, turning around the corner.

_SHANDAROO! Why is everyone so busy?! I'll get bored to death like this!_ Inner Sakura threw imaginary punches in her mind as Sakura sighed in defeat.

"I might as well go back to Tsunade-sama now…" She sighed again, about to walk back.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!" When a body literally flew past her, crashing somewhere in the distant street.

"What the?!" Sakura gasped, jumping back startled.

"Sakura-san! Quickly you have to come with me!" Chouji all of a sudden landed down in front of her out with a loud thud and dragged her after him.

"W-What…WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" She exclaimed, completely stupefied as to why Chouji popped up in front of her out of nowhere. "Why was there a flying--"

"I'll explain later. Right now, Miraiko-san needs you!" He replied, triggering the more concerned side of the pink girl.

"Miraiko-san? Did Naruto do something again?! If he did, I will kill hi--!"

"No not Naruto! I'll explain later."

* * *

"She doesn't look too good."

"She'll be fine in a minute, I already healed her wounds."

"But she's still not waking up yet…So troublesome."

"I know! Maybe we should throw water over her head or something?"

"BAKA! YOU'LL MAKE IT WORSE LIKE THAT." Smack.

"Itai! I was only trying to help Sakura-chan!"

"Hmm…"

"Ah. She's waking up!"

Four big blobs of swirling bright colours in a pale white space came into my vision when I opened my eyes. It took me a while before I realized where I was.

"God…Did I die and go to hell?" I groaned when I smelled a familiar unpleasant white room that reeked of medicine.

"You're in the hospital." Sakura's reassuring voice brought my attention to the female ninja who was sitting at the side of my bed and at the other side of the bed stood Chouji, Shikamaru and Naruto.

"Finally, she's awake. I need to go work on the preparations for those troublesome chuunin exams again. Later, Naruto." Shikamaru said, looking as troubled as ever when he glanced down at me before he left the hospital room.

"Are you feeling okay now Akatsuki--I mean _Miraiko_…_chan_?" Naruto asked anxiously, moving past Chouji to get closer to my face.

"Did you seriously just call me Miraiko-chan? That's new…" I chuckled lightly, before coughing a little. My stomach was hurting for some reason.

"Yeah well, Sakura-chan said she'd punch me if I didn't--" Naruto blurted out, scratching his head nervously when a certain pink haired teammate of his turned to glare at him.

"He means that I explained him where you_ really_ came from." Sakura cut in, folding her arms over her chest.

Before I could reply, the door slammed open again, revealing an exhausted Ino.

"Chouji! I've been looking for you all over the place! Did you forget about Asuma-sensei?!"

_Oh dear…She probably missed her original chance to meet up with Chouji when they were bringing me to the hospital…_

Ino took Chouji with her after briefly introducing herself to me and making a quick chat with Naruto and Sakura. Then the two turned back to me.

"Nee Miraiko-chan…Did you…You know, _knew_ that that guy would attack us…? Is that why you suddenly pushed us out of the way?" Naruto began, seeming somewhat excited. Sakura also glanced at me, looking curious.

"Uhm…Sort of." I answered hesitatingly.

"That's so cool! So you can predict things for us!." He concluded, looking excited.

"Naruto…" Sakura muttered his name, looking like she was going to intervene.

"Uh no. I do know some things, but I can't tell you anything." I quickly said, almost instantly resulting in a sulky face from Naruto.

"Eeeh? Why?! Not even a little--"

"Lets give Miraiko-san some rest, now shall we?" Sakura grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to halt his chattering.

"But I want to know!"

"Isn't it obvious why?! I'll tell you later. Rest well, Miraiko-san!"

"Yeah…Thanks." I forced a weak grin.

And with a last smile from Sakura who was keeping Naruto away from going back into my room, she slammed the door shut.

I could hear them yelling at each other, like a married couple, for some time in the hallway, before silence deafened my ears again.

I sat up on the bed, cringing when I did so. My stomach was still hurting for some reason when I moved. "What's this..?"

My eyes fell on a faint bruise in the centre of my stomach when I lifted my shirt up. So that was it. I got hit in the stomach by one of Sai's beasts…

_Sakura probably healed it…But it still hurts! _I cringed again, lowering my shirt.

Just in time too, because once again the door was slammed open, startling me.

But I couldn't see anyone standing in the doorway. It couldn't have been the wind that blew the door open, could it? No, not that hard…

"Over here!" A barky voice called out to me, making me lower my eyes to the ground.

"Eh?! I know you…You're Pakkun!" I gasped, looking down with big eyes at the little dog that was standing in the doorway.

"Ah you know my name, good. Well, Kakashi sent me to you, since he can't supervise you this week." The droopy eyed dog explained, walking over to the bed.

"What?" I blinked, staring down at him. "Does that mean…that you…?"

"Yep. I'm your babysitter for the week."

"WHAT?!"


	8. Scene Eight

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto land. Reviews are appreciated!**

* * *

"You can't be serious!"

"I'm afraid I am."

"He's making his dog supervise me?!"

"Well actually he said to _babysit_ you, but--"

"Hush! I can't believe this! How weak does he think I am?!"

"Well--"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT DROOPY."

With droopy aka Pakkun, one of Kakashi's ninja dogs, I stomped through the hospital with anger and disbelief boiling in my blood. With a hint of embarrassment too, because the dog was supervising (babysitting) me and thus guiding me to the jounin's room.

"KAKASHI!"

"Hn?" The grey haired man looked up from his perverted little old book Icha Icha Paradise with his open eye, staring at me boredly while I was practically blazing with hatred.

"What do you have to say for yourself about THIS?" I picked up Pakkun with both of my hands, shoving the little dog into Kakashi's face.

"…It's my dog?" The jounin answered dumbly, shrugging.

"Of course it's your dog! I'm not blind! Why did you make an animal my supervisor?!" I yelled back at him, shaking Pakkun in the air frustratedly.

"I'm not going to be able to keep an eye on you while I'm in the hospital and Tsunade-sama has enough worries on her mind, so rather than sending a supervisor of my level to watch over a little spy like you, this is easier." He simply said, still looking bored.

"A-A little spy?! You still think I'm a spy?!" I exclaimed disbelievingly, shaking Pakkun more wildly with every word that left my mouth.

"Well, it doesn't really matter what I think. Either way Pakkun will supervise you." And with that Kakashi dove back into his perverted little old book.

_What? I can't believe this crap! Didn't Tsunade explain him about me? Why doesn't he believe me?_

I wanted to argue but a weak voice spoke up before I could. "Ugh…I'm not feeling so good."

"Ah Pakkun! I'm so sorry!" I yelped, realizing that I'd been shaking the poor dog the entire time.

"You'd better get him some fresh air…" Kakashi muttered lazily, turning the page of his book.

"Tch…This is not over yet!" I declared determinedly, before quickly running out of his room to get Pakkun some of the fresh air that the stubborn jounin recommended.

However I didn't get to see the stubborn jounin smiling faintly through his mask as I exited.

* * *

"Are you okay now?" I asked Pakkun who was sprawled on a light brown coloured wooden bench with a still slightly pale look on his face.

"…Better than five minutes ago." The little dog barked, sniffing up more fresh air.

_Because you puked all over the place yeah. Thank God I even got you out of the hospital before that happened…Ugh._

I sighed and folded my arms over my chest, looking down at Pakkun who carefully sat up and jumped from the bench. "Alright, I'm fine now. Let's go."

"Go where?" I raised my eyebrows at him, wondering where we could possibly be going.

"Kakashi told me to take you to his house, you'll be staying there from now on."

"W-What? I'm staying at _his_ house?!" I exclaimed, dropping my arms by my sides out of shock.

"Where else would you stay?" The droopy eyed dog inquired, though he made it sound more like a statement of something that was obvious.

"But he still thinks I'm a spy or something! Why would he let me stay at his house?" I retorted, pointing at myself.

"Ah don't worry about it. You're not that dangerous." Pakkun shrugged.

"Yeah but…Wait…What?! You don't think I'm a spy too, right?!" I stared at him disbelievingly, watching as he started to walk away casually.

"Anyway, let's go."

"Hey wait! Pakkun c'mon! I'm not a spy, I swear!"

* * *

_Stupid itchy skirt! Stop itching! …Wow nice place._

My mouth fell slightly open and I stopped fussing over my annoying black skirt when Pakkun guided me into Kakashi's house. It looked better than I'd thought, seeing as I'd never seen his place described in the manga.

It wasn't such a big house, but it looked good, tidy even.

We walked into the living room, where I saw one big wooden table in the centre of the room with some smaller seats surrounding it, the walls were a relaxing light green colour and there were two large closets in the left corner of the room…

…with an amazing collection of Jiraiya's famous perverted little books…

_He keeps that stuff in his living room?! _I thought disapprovingly, staring at Kakashi's little shrine of adult books with an awkward look on my face.

"Come with me. I'll show you your room." Pakkun ordered, retrieving me out of my daze.

I followed him up the stairs, walking through a small hall with two doors on either sides of the walls. Pakkun stopped in front of the second door at the end of the hall, facing the right wall.

He nodded at me as if to give me the signal that it was okay to go in and I nodded as well, reaching for the door handle and pushing the door open.

"It's so…empty. This is it?" I looked around disappointedly, finding not much in the room except for a small closed window, a medium sized bed with dull grey sheets covering it and an old looking wooden closet backed up against a light green painted wall.

"Ma, you'll be fine with this for now right?" Pakkun replied, hopping onto the bed causing a small cloud of old dust to whirl up from it.

"Of course I won't be fine with this! Have you taken a good look at me? My clothes are a mess and my hair looks just…horrifying! I need new clothes, a bath… and I'm absolutely **not** going to sleep on that dirty thing!" I protested, throwing a disgusted look at the dusty bed.

For a moment Pakkun was quiet and just stared at me with a troubled look on his face, before he took a sniff from the bed and started coughing really badly.

"O-Okay, you can go buy some new clothes…Ugh…And new bed sheets too." He coughed, looking sick again.

"Thank you very much." I smiled, pleased. "Now, where could Kakashi's _wallet_ be?"

* * *

"Have you found it yet?"

"Not yet."

I wiped some small sweat drops from my face and closed the closet where I'd been digging for Kakashi's wallet for the past half hour.

I found nothing. Except for a load of dirty laundry in desperate need for a clean-up. Ew.

Pakkun also stopped searching for the wallet in one of Kakashi's drawers that was filled with random stuff like kunai, shuriken, little perverted books and _underwear_.

"Why is his room so messy?! The rest of his house looked so clean!" I complained, dropping my weight on top of Kakashi's messy bed.

"Kakashi can be a bit lazy when it comes to tidying up his personal things I guess." Pakkun answered, climbing on top of the bed too.

"That's for sure…Ow!" I attempted to bend forward but I cringed and I wrapped my arms around my stomach protectively.

"Are you okay?" The dog moved towards to me concernedly.

"Yeah…My stomach just hurts a little from what happened earlier." I muttered, moving a hand underneath my shirt to rub the still sensitive bruise.

"What happened earlier?"

"Ah no it's nothing I was just being stupid and tripped over something, don't worry about it." I cracked up a forced smile, not wanting to tell Pakkun anything that he could inform Kakashi of later on.

I had no intention of saddling Kakashi up with more reasons to believe that I was a troublemaker or a spy. It was better to just go with this lie. Besides, it wasn't such a big deal anyway right?

"Hmm…Maybe it's in his jacket." Pakkun suddenly suggested, motioning for Kakashi's green flak jacket that was sprawled out at the bottom of the bed.

"Yeah, good idea!" I grinned happily, grabbing the jacket to examine it.

I rummaged through the many pockets that the jacket had, coming across several hidden pointy weapons, an Icha Icha paradise book, but no wallet to be found…

"Hmm...I'll go check downstairs again. I'll be back in a minute." Pakkun hopped off the bed, walking out of the door to head back downstairs.

I simply nodded absentmindedly and continued my troublesome quest for Kakashi's unfound wallet in his jacket.

_Why does this thing have so many pockets?! How does he find things in here? God this is so annoying! It's almost as if he doesn't want me to find it-- Ah!_

"What is this?" I frowned, pulling out a stack of small blank papers out of one of the dark green pockets. I sighed irritably, wanting to tuck them back into the pocket angrily.

But then they ripped apart. All of them.

"What the hell?!" I yelped, dropping the slashed papers on the floor out of shock.

_What happened? I didn't even do anything! Oh no…what if they were important? What if they hold some invisible message or something? Noooo! Kakashi is going to kill me!!_

"Are you okay Miraiko-san?" Pakkun called from downstairs and I could hear his footsteps coming up the stairs.

"I'm fine!" I shouted back hastily, bending down to gather the papers back even though it hurt my stomach like hell.

_I have to put them back quickly!_

"…Miraiko-san?"

"What's up?" I smiled innocently at Pakkun who stood in the doorway, eying me in a somewhat searching way. He looked up at the bottom of the bed where I had put Kakashi's flak jacket again.

"I found Kakashi's wallet, it was between two Icha Icha books." The dog revealed the wallet, making my smile grow twice it's size.

"Typical for him…But good job! I'll take a quick bath and then you can take me to some shops." I told him, getting up from the bed with my hands hidden behind my back.

"Alright. I'll be waiting downstairs. You can go to the bathroom through the white door at the front of the hall." The dog instructed, turning around with the wallet in his mouth.

Once he was gone I let out a relieved sigh and brought my hands back on my lap, revealing the ripped blank pieces of papers.

"I really hope these weren't that important…But I have a strange feeling that they were..."

I bit my lip nervously, but I tucked the papers back into the jacket's pocket anyway, hoping that Kakashi wouldn't suspect me of magically ripping his papers apart.

* * *

"This is so cute! And this! Oh and _this_ too!" I squealed girlishly, dancing around the many cute tops, dresses, shirts and accessories that lured me into the clothing shop.

I was wearing one of Kakashi's scarce _clean_ shirts though it was a bit too large for me, so it fell down my skirt, covering half of the black fabric. I had left my white jacket and green shirt at Kakashi's house, planning to clean them up later.

But for now I was doing what girls are best at. Shopping.

"Pakkun, which one is cuter? The pink or the yellow one?" I held up two necklaces with silver cords and colourful flower beads hanging onto them, eager to add one of them to my growing collection.

"Don't you think you've bought enough? You already have so many clothes." The troubled dog hinted at the five bags filled with clothes that were dangling from my arms.

"But these aren't clothes. They're jewellery!" I grinned giddily, feeling noticeably more at home now I was doing something other than arguing and running for my life.

It felt so good to do something that I was familiar with for once. I couldn't even remember the last time I had fun ever since I got into this world.

"I don't know if Kakashi will like it if you spend all his money on this girly stuff though…" Pakkun barged into my thoughts again, instantly destroying my happy mood.

"Well then he shouldn't have let me stay at his house. I have needs too, you know. Oh look at the cute underwear they sell there!" I didn't bother to wait for Pakkun's reply when I rushed over to a different section of the shop to continue my hunt for new clothes.

"Are you done yet…?" Pakkun whined, not being used to shopping for over three hours.

"Hmm…Yeah I guess I've bought enough for now. Let's go eat somewhere, I'm longing for something other than hospital food." I agreed, trying to balance the weight of the increased bags filled with clothes and other stuff on my arms.

"Then lets go to Ichiraku." The tired dog said, moving past me to lead the way.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

I was about to follow Pakkun when I was roughly grabbed by my shoulders from behind and I nearly dropped all of my bags from the sudden surprise when the person who grabbed me turned me around with a forceful swing.

"Wha…Naruto? What's wrong with you? You could've just asked me to turn around!" I scowled him, facing the boy who was looking at me anxiously.

"You've betrayed me!" He accused loudly, jabbing his finger at my shoulder.

"Excuse me..?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You knew that that guy who attacked us was going to be the new member, didn't you?!" He exclaimed, shaking his finger at me impatiently.

"Oh you mean Sai." I stated, not making a big deal out of it.

"Ahh! So you did know!" He yelled at me, sounding enraged.

"Well…" I trailed off, not sure of how to deal with the pissed off Naruto.

He pulled his finger back and crossed his arms over his chest, making an angry face. "I bet you're siding with him! Or with the Akatsu--"

"Will you shut up about the Akatsuki already?! For the last time, I don't have anything to do with them. I'm on** your** side." I cut him off, threatening to smack him with a couple of my heavy bags.

"Hmph, prove it." He muttered defiantly.

I let out an irritated sigh, putting my bags down to fold my arms over my chest as well.

"Try me."

He looked up at my determined face with confusion clearly visible in his eyes, before he cleared his throat and placed his hands on his hips.

"Fine, then tell me something you know about Sasuke!" He dared me.

I pretended to be deep in thought, occasionally glancing at his face that showed off his anxiousness. I knew that he wouldn't get off my back unless he got an answer, so I decided to give him what he wanted.

"…Well…there is something _very_ interesting…" I murmured in a dark mysterious tone, gaining another anxious look from the blonde.

"What? What do you know?" He persisted eagerly.

"Hmm…"

A brief moment of tense silence passed by before I nodded mysteriously and said…

"I know that you stole his first…kiss."

The expression on Naruto's face was almost hilarious as my words started to sink in his brain and his face went from deadly pale to bright red. It didn't take him long before he exploded in comical rage.

"YAPPARI DAIKIRAI! I hate you after all!" He pointed at me, trying to hide his embarrassment by shouting angrily.

I burst out in laughter even though Naruto was yelling at me, my shoulders shaking violently.

"It's true though." I managed to bring out through laughs.

"But that happened in the past!" The blonde snapped back and looked away, unable to get rid of his blush. Then his expression changed. "Wait…You know the past too?"

"Didn't Sakura tell you that?" I asked, gathering my bags again.

"No she didn't! This means you…You know everything about me?!" Naruto stuttered, his blue eyes widening.

"Yep, I know _all about_ you, so you'd better treat me nicely in the future." I grinned at him.

He was about to argue when Pakkun cleared his throat, returning our attention back to him. "I hate to interrupt you, but weren't we going to eat at Ichiraku, Miraiko-san?"

"Eh? You're going to eat ramen?" Naruto's face instantly lit up, his eyes gluing themselves onto mine and quietly begging to invite him too.

"…Fine, you can come with us." I muttered, gaining a happy 'YATTA!' from the boy.

_I just hope that he won't eat more than Kakashi's wallet can pay for..._

"Let's go Miraiko-_chan_!" Naruto cheered, tugging at my arm.

"Yeah, yeah." I allowed him to drag me towards the ramen stand, rolling my eyes at that the drool that was beginning to form at the corner of his mouth.

Then I heard something behind us, a rustling sound, and I stopped to look over my shoulder.

"What's wrong Miraiko-chan?" Naruto's impatient voice asked as I stared at the empty street in front of my eyes.

_I could've sworn that…No it's probably just my imagination. _"No, never mind." I smiled as if nothing had happened, turning back to the hungry ninja.

Though I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched by someone.


	9. Scene Nine

* * *

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. And I'm too tired to make some weird comment about it now. Lucky you.**

* * *

"Aaaah."

"…"

"**Aaaah**."

"…You really enjoy treating me like I'm some kind of moron, don't you?"

"Heheh, _well_…"

"Don't finish that sentence."

"Fine, fine. Then open your mouth already. _Aaaah_."

Reluctantly, I complied and parted my lips, allowing Naruto, who was grinning like an idiot, to feed me with his chopsticks that held up a couple of warm noodles.

_I hate Asian food! Stupid chopsticks…Why can't I hold them properly?! Now I'm stuck with Naruto feeding me and this stuff doesn't even taste good! God…Why do you hate me so much?_

He dipped his chopsticks back into the bowl that contained the remaining ramen, after I took the bite and started munching on the it. Once I finished, he'd bring up the chopsticks back to my face and he'd continue with that childish sound…

"Aaaah." Munch.

"Aaaah." Munch.

"Aa--"

"Will you stop doing that already? I'm not a baby!" I cut him off before he could bring out the annoying noise again, moving my head towards the chopsticks to claim another bite.

"Ahh but I was just getting into it!" Naruto pouted at me, sending me a somewhat amused look.

"Well too bad then. You can have the rest…I'm done eating." I replied flatly, turning away from him to rest my elbows on the table of the ramen stand with my chin resting on my knuckles.

"Yatta! Lucky!" Naruto cheered happily, taking the chopsticks in one hand again and turning around to feast on the leftovers of ramen in my bowl.

I glanced back at him briefly as he started to slurp up the noodles and soup with a huge smile on his face, showing off how much he liked the food.

My eyes wandered off to look down at the wooden plate where I'd rested my elbows, staring at the solid structure of the light brown material. A feeling that made me feel sick in my stomach came back to taunt me as my mind settled on one subject that wouldn't let go of me.

Home.

I felt homesick.

It hadn't bothered me so much up until now, because right now I didn't have other things to worry about. I had time to relax, but whenever I thought of something fun to do, my mind would plague me with flashbacks of home.

Even during my trip to the clothing shops with Pakkun, I had tried to distract myself by focusing on pretty things as much as possible to block out any memories of home that were eager to fill up my mind.

I took another quick look at Naruto's bowl.

The ramen didn't suit my taste, but I had eaten as much as I could take because I knew that I had to eat _something_. I wasn't used to this type of food.

Sure, back at home I had occasionally eaten foreign food like Chinese and Greek stuff, but I was a bigger fan of the usual food that I grew up with.

But now that I was stuck in a world that focused mostly on food from _Japan_…my 'usual' food wasn't available.

_Sigh. I want chocolate… _I thought wishfully, desiring the popular sweet candy that could always cheer me up when I was down.

"Miraiko-chan?" Naruto's voice broke through my depressive thoughts and I realized that my eyes were starting to get wet.

"Yes?" I moved out of the position I had been sitting in, hastily blinking away the wetness in my eyes and allowing my emerald green eyes to meet with Naruto's sapphire blue eyes.

He seemed to study my face for a moment, as if he was looking for something he had seen just now but then he shook his head with a faint smile. "No nothing. Just noticed that you were zoning out a little."

"Oh." I mumbled back, breaking the connection of our eyes again.

An awkward silence made it's disturbing entry. Even the slurping noises that Naruto had been making weren't there to distract me. It got on my nerves.

"…So…" I tried to start a conversation. "Uh…Don't you need to pack your stuff for your upcoming mission or something?"

"Oh yeah…Yamato-taichou told us to meet up at the front gate within an hour…" He muttered back absentmindedly, not sounding like the Naruto I knew.

In fact he didn't _look_ like the Naruto I knew either. His expression held an emotion I couldn't read very well…probably because I'd never witnessed him with such an 'un-Naruto' like look.

"An hour already? Well then get your butt up and start packing!" I attempted to make him act like he usually did around me: annoying and hyper.

I slapped his back in a friendly sort of way, earning a small playful glare when he unwillingly got shoved forward by the sudden impact.

"Okay, okay! I'm gonna go pack then." He held up his hands defensively as if he thought that I'd hit him again if he wouldn't comply.

"Good. Tell Sakura and _Sai_ I said hi, okay?" I grinned amusedly as he nodded, watching him as he got up from his seat and picked up his backpack from the ground.

"Sure--Ack! Why did you have to remind me of that bastard?!" He exclaimed, fuming with resentment towards his new team member.

I laughed as his expression underwent a dramatic change from somewhat relaxed to extreme hatred. It never got boring to see him making those funny faces.

"Bye." I waved to him, still chuckling lightly when he calmed down and started to walk away from Ichiraku. He put on that familiar boyish grin, waving back before he turned around.

_I hope I didn't put him into a mood that'll make him kill Sai…Nah, he'll fine. I guess I should just wait for Pakkun to return from Kakashi now--_

"Nee, Miraiko-chan there's something I forgot to ask you!" I heard Naruto call from a distance, but I didn't even turn around completely when I felt someone tapping my shoulder.

"Huh? Whoa! Don't just pop up behind me like that!" I jumped up from my seat a little, turning around fully to see Naruto hovering over me with that cheeky grin of his.

_Damn that ninja speed of his. I want that too! _I thought sulkily, before the blond spoke again.

"Do you uhm…" He began carefully, looking like he was going to ask one of the most important questions of his life.

_He probably wants __**another**__ bowl of ramen. Well he can kiss that fantasy goodbye because Kakashi's wallet won't spew out more money so he'll just have to--_

"Do you think you could tell if this mission will go well?" He finally asked, trying to keep a straight face but it was quite obvious that he was secretly nervous for my answer.

"Lets just say that none of you are going to die. I'm not saying it's easy though." I answered with a knowing grin, generalising my answer as much as I could.

"Okay that's all I needed to know. Bye!"

_Finally. Hmm…Maybe I can go check out some shops now…Window-shopping isn't so bad--_

"Miraiko-chan!!"

…Will this kid EVER leave?!

"What now?!" I lost control over my temper, causing my reply to come out sounding unintentionally angry.

"Well…I just wanted you to know…I'm sorry for calling you an akatsuki guy and treating you like a baby earlier." Came out of his mouth in a hushed voice, the sound barely reached my ears.

_What? _

"What?" I repeated after my mind with a blank look on my face, dumbfound.

"I'm not going to say it again! I know you heard me!" He shouted back heatedly, waving his arms around in the air.

For a second I didn't really know how to respond, but then I just did what came to mind first and I smiled. "Thanks I guess."

In return he peeked back at me secretly, then turned his embarrassed face away followed by the rest of his body turning around. "N-No problem. I'm really leaving this time."

"You'd better hurry then. I believe your one hour of packing time already passed a while ago..."

"WHAT?! AAAHH WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN ME?! I'M GONNA BE LATE!" He stumbled out of the ramen stand and accidentally almost ran into several people until he dashed out of my vision towards the horizon…

My smile widened amusedly. _That's the Naruto I know._

"Miraiko-san!"

"Hey Pakkun, how was Kakashi?"

It was about a half hour ago since Naruto left for his mission. I was still praying that Yamato didn't scare him with that dark creepy look he's so good at.

"Still not coming out of bed for some time. But that's not what I came to tell you." The little dog marched up to me, looking up at my wondering face.

"What is it then?"

"Kakashi had another chat with Tsunade-sama and they both decided that you should learn how to control your jutsu properly before you, I quote Tsunade, 'squash everyone to death with those idiotic jutsu'."

I stared at him dumbly, not sure of how to respond. Not to mention that Tsunade called my techniques idiotic! …God, it wasn't my fault that I got saddled up with them!

"So what am I supposed to do now? I can't do this alone, I don't know how to control them!" I objected, putting on a whiny face.

"That's why I'm taking you to the ninja academy tomorrow." Pakkun explained, catching my interest.

"…The ninja academy? They've asked a teacher to help me?" I beamed.

"Well actually they begged, but no one wanted to because they all heard how you smashed a couple of holes in the hospital and nearly killed a dozen non-suspecting patients after you lost control of your jutsu last time." The dog replied dryly, a hint of a grin playing his lips.

"Hey that's not fair! I'm still learning!" I lost my happy mood and cried out helplessly, not finding it so funny like him.

"Don't worry, they did eventually find an idiot who's willing to train you." Pakkun waved his paw at me casually, offering me a faint smile.

"…Eh, do you mind telling who?" I bent down to face him directly, eying him curiously.

"You'll see tomorrow. Kakashi told me to take you back to his place for now." The dog turned around with that last comment, starting to walk into the opposite direction of where he came from.

I picked myself up hastily and caught up with him, sending him a searching look. "Please tell me! Is it a strict teacher? A mean one? Please tell me it's a nice one!"

"Have you ever been told that you're too curious for your own good?" The dog commented, sounding slightly annoyed.

Which didn't keep me from going on though. "Don't tell me it's a person who'll train me to death or something… like that torture expert Ibiki! …Or worse if that's possible!"

"I doubt that Iruka is capable of doing that."

"…What?" I stopped walking. "Iruka-sensei? The same guy who used to be Naruto's teacher?"

"Yeah him. He gets along pretty good with noisy people like you and Naruto so don't worry about getting tortured." Pakkun reassured me.

"Thank God it's someone who is nice…Hey wait. Did you just call me noisy like _Naruto_?"

"You are, aren't you?"

"That is so not true! I'm nothing like Naruto, I'm almost an adult you know!"

"What does age have to do with being noisy?"

"It's-- Ugh never mind!" I dropped the subject, noticing that he wasn't going to change his mind about my apparent 'alikeness' with Naruto. Though it was so **not** true.

But aside from that, I was feeling happy. Iruka-sensei wasn't such a bad guy and he probably would be nicer than that annoying grey haired jounin…

Right?

* * *

"Are you done yet?"

"In a minute…I don't like this out-fit after all!"

_Creak. _

"…Wow…Your room looks even messier than Kakashi's right now."

"Hey I told you not to come in when I'm changing!" I scolded Pakkun when I noticed that he'd entered my room without warning.

It was early, 8 o'clock in the morning to be exact, and I would be going to Iruka-sensei at about ten o'clock.

My clothes were all over the place because I had been trying on different shirts and skirts the entire morning. And yes, I was trying out skirts even though I hated them…because I didn't like any of the pants they sold in the stores around here.

I reached out for the next set of clothes that consisted of a knee-length white skirt and a matching long sleeved white sweater that had light grey designs of moons and stars on it.

"But I'm a dog." Pakkun stated, trying to justify his unannounced entry with that excuse.

"You might be a dog, but you're still **male** and you can **talk**." I argued with him, not receiving a objection to that.

"Can't you just wear your old clothes? They're worn out already anyway, so it'd be easier to train in those right?" Pakkun advised, gesturing for the itchy black skirt from hell, green top and white jacket that I'd washed yesterday.

With my hands, since there were no washing machines around here. God, I miss modern technology…

"No I want to wear something new. I'm sick of those old clothes." I refused, determined to put on some clothes that I actually _liked_.

"Suit yourself. Though I don't think your new wardrobe is going to last long…" Pakkun replied with a sigh, sounding like he was thinking that I was making some kind of big mistake.

I just rolled my eyes at him and did as I pleased anyway.

* * *

After about an hour of whining from Pakkun, I had finally chosen an out-fit to wear: a light blue sweater and a black skirt with a matching black belt that had aqua coloured stones as a decoration.

The impatient little dog had urged me to hurry up once I was done and he didn't even give me some time to check my hair. He annoyingly reminded me of my father who'd always do that to my mom…

"Good morning!" I cheerfully greeted the man with the high pony tail who was watching me from a distance, receiving a wave and a distant 'good morning' as an answer.

"You must be Sorano-san." The man concluded when I stopped in front of him with Pakkun trailing behind me.

"And you're Iru-- err…_Umino_-san." I corrected myself before I said 'Iruka', recalling something about having to call older people by their last name out of respect when you don't know them well yet…or whatever.

"I'm leaving her in your care until I get back, okay Iruka?" Pakkun asked the chuunin.

"No problem." Iruka answered, smiling approvingly.

The little dog nodded and took his leave. Iruka then turned back to me, looking me up and down wonderingly.

"Do you want to change clothes before we begin?"

"Huh? Why?" I frowned at his question.

"Well, you're obviously not going to be able to train in those kind of clothes, right?" He replied with his eyebrows raised, pointing at my brand new fancy clothes.

My pupils darted down to observe my clothes. The skirt was pretty tightly wrapped around my hips and it wouldn't be so easy to move around a lot. And my sweater wasn't exactly 'training acceptable' either because the light material seemed quite vulnerable…

Or in short.

I had been too busy with trying to look pretty instead of choosing the proper training clothes.

…

Pakkun I hate you for being right all the time!!


	10. Scene Ten

* * *

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. Otherwise...I would make Kakashi -insert random dirty comment-**

* * *

Horror struck my face when I felt the painful familiarity...

The terrible sensation…

The inability to ignore it…

It was back…

And it itched!

With a displeased vibe radiating off my tense body, I reached down and ran my nails over the itchy black fabric that hung loosely over the side of my hip, getting rid of the annoying feeling.

I was back in my old outfit again. The one with the evil black skirt that itched like hell.

It seems as though the evil piece of clothing follows me wherever I go….As if fate is doing this on purpose, just to prove that I will forever be haunted by the itching terror. It's seriously starting to get on my nerves!

But it seems like that's not the only thing that fate has in mind to pester me for all eternity.

No. It just _had_ to get worse.

"Uhh…Umino-sensei…Are you sure I should do this? I mean…I really don't know if it's such a good idea..." Insecurity was written all over my face as my eyes rose up to look at Iruka.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, we're on training grounds so it's alright if you mess up." The sensei waved his hand forward casually, as if to give me the signal to go right ahead and destroy the place.

Which was exactly what I feared.

"But you did hear from Hokage-sama and Hatake-san that I'm not so good at controlling my jutsu right? I mean, if you're not careful I may _really_ destroy the--" I stuttered, a bit fearful of what my hands would cause if I would perform the seals of the jutsu.

"I'm sure you'll be fine. And besides I need to see what you do wrong, before I'm able to teach you how to do it right, don't I?" Iruka interrupted with a carefree smile on his face.

He obviously was **not** informed well.

"Okay then…Here goes nothing." I turned back to face my nemesis: the grassy training field. I took in a deep breath, hoping that it would help me steady my nerves. It didn't.

For a second I wanted to just give up and run away, but then Iruka sent me one those horrible strict 'teacher' looks and I felt myself cowering again. It was so nerve wrecking.

But I placed the palms of my hands together and entwined my fingers anyway, praying that I wouldn't cause too much damage. Or kill someone. Oh God.

I performed the jutsu and snapped my eyes shut, not wanting to witness it. However no familiar 'boom!' 'boom!' noises hit my ears.

Hesitatingly I dared to open my eyes again and found a confused Iruka staring at me, sending me a puzzled look. I was equally confused.

"Why did nothing happen? I'm sure I did it like I always did--AAAAAAH!!"

I jumped forward startled, nearly throwing myself into Iruka's arms when I felt the earth shake behind me and I looked back to see a familiar reddish brown stone. Though I knew that wouldn't be the end of it…

"Ah very good, Sorano-san! See? Nothing bad happened. Everything went fine--"

"Look out!"

CRASH!

This time I did throw myself at Iruka just in time to save him from the second boulder that made it's rough entry, followed by the next set that made the ground rumble.

"I think you should undo the jutsu now!" Iruka shouted over the rough melody of pounding stones that continued to drop out of the sky, a droplet of sweat running down his face, revealing his sudden mood switch that signalled for fear.

"Yeah it would be nice if I knew how, wouldn't it?!" I shouted back sarcastically, regretting the fact that I had even complied with his order to begin with.

_Think Ally! Think! How did you stop this last time?! _

My mind screamed at me helplessly and frustration started to build up within me as I stared at the piles of red stone that were starting to pollute the training field. A few of the boulders even hit the ground so hard that they made big cracks in the ground, breaking it apart.

CRASH!

"Sorano-san! Put an end to it now!" I caught the helpless look on Iruka's face as he dodged another boulder, adding more to my frustration.

_Think! Think damnit! Last time was when you were trying to stop Deidara. You knocked Deidara out with a stone. Then you almost squashed his bird along with Gaara with another stone.…Then--_

My mind tried to come up with more things that I could use to get me out of this situation, but none of the memories explained how I had ended the jutsu. All I knew was that it had something to do with fear…But that was exactly what activated the jutsu as well so it didn't make any sense!

_Never mind ending the jutsu…Why am I feeling so tired? It's like the energy is being sucked out of me or something! _I thought in frustration, placing a hand over my forehead.

"Sorano-san above you!" Iruka's shout hit my ears, urging my drowsy head to shoot up to see a small square shaped block of stone increasing in size as it neared me.

_Enough already…I can't take this! It's too much! Stop! Stop! __**Stop**__!_

"STOP!"

I heard myself screaming at the top of my lungs until my voice sounded raspy, my right arm jolting up in the air as a reflex to protect my head.

My first expectation was to feel a painful blow on my before everything would turn black, but no such thing happened.

I knew it should've made me feel relieved, but instead it added more to my fear, because I didn't know what_ had_ happened.

A light touch on the palm of my right hand caused a wave of shock to ripple through my body and if possible, my wide eyes that were focused on the ground widened even more to the point where it started to hurt.

Carefully I ran my fingers over the rough material that hovered above the palm of my hand, trying to feel what it was. My eyes wandered off to look at Iruka, who was staring at me with mixed emotions.

Shock. Amazement. Disbelief. Confusion. Basically the same what I was feeling.

"Sorano…You're…Your hand…" Came out of his mouth in a quiet whisper.

Becoming curious as to why his dark brown eyes were so fixated on my lifted hand, I cautiously raised my head to look up.

The red stone that had supposed to crash on top of me was resting on my hand unthreateningly, the weight of it barely touching my palm as if it was floating above it.

"I…I did it…I really did it!" I gasped, a huge smile breaking through my horror-struck face.

That's when all of a sudden the stone dissolved into the air without a trace and a huge wave of tiredness caught me off guard. My legs gave in to it, causing me to collapse on the grass hard.

_Why…? This is just like when I protected myself from the bees with Oushiro no jutsu…Why am I feeling so tired? _Questions ran through my mind, and the only thing I was able to do was stare at the remaining fallen stones on the training field that also started to fade away.

"Sorano-san! Are you okay?!" I felt a rush of wind blowing over me when Iruka ran over to me quickly, dropping himself to his knees to check up on me.

"I'm fine…I think. Just so tired…" I groaned when he helped me sit up straight, my body felt like a dead weight to me.

"No wonder with all that chakra you used…Did you never realize how much chakra it uses up to perform this jutsu?" Iruka asked surprisedly, sounding like he found it strange that I never noticed it before.

"I wasn't really thinking about _chakra_ at those times. Surviving was more important. I don't know anything about chakra or whatever." I muttered back bitterly, though I didn't mean to make it sound so mean. The tiredness was making me feel very irritable.

"Ah…I see. Anyway you should rest for now. I'll take you back to the academy building." He replied in a much more caring tone, offering his hand to help me stand.

"That would be nice, yeah." I commented in the same bitter tone as I took his hand firmly, receiving a somewhat stern look from the sensei before he smiled apologetically at my drowsy zombie head.

* * *

"Maybe you should put my jutsu on the list of forbidden jutsu. That would be hilarious." I mused sarcastically as I leaned back against Iruka's seat in his classroom.

He was rummaging through a closet filled with old looking textbooks, not really paying attention to what I was saying. It'd been an hour since I collapsed on the training field and I was starting to regain my energy gradually, expressing it by annoying the busy sensei.

"Or maybe you should make me a suicide ninja or something. That way it wouldn't really matter if my jutsu killed me. I'm a failure anyway. Or maybe--"

"Shut up, you're not a failure." Iruka cut me off irritably, whirling around to face me with one of the books in his hands.

I sighed and sat up straight, becoming serious again. "What's that?"

"It's a book about basic skills of a ninja that I want you to study." He answered, opening the book and handing it over to me to show me some of it's content.

I flipped through the many pages, briefly viewing them. Most of them were about controlling chakra, basic hand seals, basic jutsu, some history about famous events or ninjas and the rest of it didn't really interest me.

"Why should I even bother to learn this? It's obvious that I can't do this!" I clapped the book shut and threw on the desk in front of me, staring at it with a discouraged expression.

Iruka sighed in an annoyed way and picked up the book, pushing it back in my hands again.

"No, it's obvious that you're not experienced with your jutsu. But that doesn't mean you can't learn how to control it and perhaps learn more. I heard you know another jutsu called 'Oushiro no jutsu', right?" He said, leaning against the black board.

"Yeah…I do know how to use that one a little, without it going out of control. But it also drains my energy like the other jutsu.." I mumbled, staring down at the floor.

"But how have you learned them then?" He continued.

"Uhh…I sort of did it on impulse. I don't really know how I did it. It just happened." I replied honestly, still feeling too tired to come up with lame excuses.

"Hmm…Well then…" Iruka moved away from his spot, walking over to me.

His eyes met mine, his strangely determined ones contrasting with my tired discouraged ones.

"What?" I asked, curious about what he was planning.

"I will teach you some of the basic academy student and genin skills, because they are easier and quicker to learn. Once you control those, it will be much easier for you to work on Oushiro no jutsu and…what was the other one's name again?"

"Uhh…It doesn't really have one other than 'chaotic idiotic jutsu'." I blushed embarrassedly.

"Hmm…Well think of one later too then. But for now, I want you to take this book with you today to study the hand seals and the basic skills. We'll continue training tomorrow." He concluded, luckily not laughing at my stupid jutsu's so called name.

"Do you really think I'll be able to?" I asked, looking up at him unsurely.

"Of course you will. I managed to help Naruto graduate the academy too, didn't I?" He chuckled amusedly.

…_So you're thinking that I'm equally bad as Naruto? Great…Just great._

"Yeah…I guess, I'll give it a try then." I smiled weakly, getting up from the chair.

"Good. Do you want me to walk you home? You're still looking a bit tired." He tilted his head to the side, studying me concernedly.

"No that's okay. I'm fine!" I replied yawningly, rubbing my eyes as I started to walk towards the door. "See you tomorro--OW!"

I walked straight into the door, instantly destroying my 'I'm perfectly fine' act along with the little piece of dignity that I had left after this horrible day.

With an uneasy smile I turned back to the sensei who sent me an awkward look.

"…Would you mind walking me home anyway?"

"Sure." He replied with a small grin playing on his lips, looking he had trouble with keeping in his laughter.

Seriously. Why do I always HAVE to make a fool out of myself whenever I meet someone?!


	11. Scene Eleven

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto land. But I _would_ like to be the owner of more reviews...Share your thoughts with me! Pretty please?**

* * *

"Uh…Ram?"

"Wrong."

"Tiger?"

"Wrong."

"…Bird?"

"Wrong."

"Oh I know! I know! It must be…Rat?"

"WRONG! It's Ox! We've been over this for over ten times! Why do you keep forgetting it?!"

"It's not my fault all those stupid hand seals look the same!"

"There are only twelve of them. How can it be so hard to learn them?!"

"Like I told you…THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME."

"No they don't! You've just been too lazy to study them, haven't you?"

"What?! That is not true!"

"Then why can't you remember them? I gave you an entire day to study!"

I let out a moan of frustration and leaned further against the back of my seat, wanting to move away from Iruka's stern figure as far as possible. My arms were folded over my chest and I refused to look at him as he continued to go on about how I was apparently a lazy student.

_As if I'm able to learn all this stuff in ONE day! What does he think I am? A sponge that'll suck up every little detail he blabs about? Jeez…_

"If you want to become a good ninja, it's very important to pay attention and study hard. Otherwise you'll never be able to perform any good jutsu and…"

_Blah blah blah. _A bored voice in my mind finished for his lecture, making me snort. Iruka sent me a small glare as a response, warning me not to mock him.

"Sorry Umino-sensei…" I mumbled apologetically, deep down knowing that he was also just trying his best to teach me how to control jutsu.

Iruka sighed wearily, rubbing his jaw. "No I should apologize too… Somehow you keep reminding me of Naruto during his academy days, so sometimes I forget that you're still new to this…"

My mouth dropped and it took me a moment before I regained control of my stunned body.

"What?!" I finally exclaimed, blinking at him incredulously.

"Don't take it as an insult, Naruto did become a good ninja and so will you. You're just…uhm…" He trailed off, looking slightly intimidated by the exasperated look I was sending him.

_Dense? Slow? Stubborn? Go on, you know you want to say it! _I thought darkly, narrowing my green eyes at the uneasy looking man.

"…Still learning. You'll get the hang of it eventually." He smiled, somewhat forced.

_Oh how smooth… _I rolled my eyes and turned my head away, still feeling a bit irritated because Iruka was the second person who'd compared me to Naruto.

My gaze found the open window, where I could see smaller kids playing outside in front of the academy building. It reminded me a bit of when I used to see my neighbour's children playing in front of my house…

"Anyhow, you said that you were able to do some basic jutsu right?" Iruka's voice pulled me back to reality.

"Yeah it was easier to do that because I just did what the book said…" I replied shyly, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Could you show me?" He asked and I nodded, getting up from my seat and leaving the desk where I was sitting, walking up to the front of the classroom.

"Bunshin no jutsu!" I shouted the command while performing the seals, a cloud of smoke circling me as I did so. I could feel Iruka's expectant gaze on me as the smoke wore off and I heard him chuckle.

"Very good! I'm surprised you learned that one so fast." He smiled approvingly, observing the clone I had created of myself.

"Which proves that I'm not so bad as Naruto after all." I boasted proudly, making a high-five with my clone.

"Well show me some more things you've learned before saying that." The sensei chuckled, giving me the cue to perform another technique.

"Piece of cake." I grinned confidently, turning to face my clone who grinned back at me and clenched her fist before swinging it at my face.

Before her fist collided with my head, my body exploded in a cloud of smoke and an Icha Icha paradise novel appeared out of it, knocking against her knuckles.

"Ah you've mastered Kawarimi no jutsu too."

"Yep!" I came out of my hiding place, which was underneath Iruka's desk. Then I walked over to my clone and made her disappear, being the only one to stand in front of the classroom again.

_This is going great! All that experimenting last night really paid off!_

I thought happily, gaining more confidence. It didn't really matter now if I didn't know all hand seals, because the book Iruka had given me already stated the seals I needed, making it easier to memorize.

"Okay, now for the grand finale!...Henge no jutsu!"

With a final 'poof' of smoke swirling around me, I transformed into Iruka-sensei to end my performance.

"Hmm…It looks good but…" He trailed off, looking quite disturbed by something.

"But what? I made a perfect copy of you, didn't I?" I argued, folding my arms over my chest.

Then I felt it. A certain squishy soft area that should've turned into a flat chest.

"Holy crap!" I gasped, looking down to confirm my worst fear.

Everything looked just like Iruka, the hair, the clothes, the shoes, the body…everything except for the fact that he didn't have…

…breasts.

_What the hell?! Why did I give him boobs?!...Oh God this looks so wrong…I made him look like a freaking transvestite!_

I gawked at the two misplaced round curves on my chest, not believing my eyes.

"Looks like you still have some practicing to do." The man laughed amusedly, though he seemed to find it a bit awkward to see a copy of himself with…well you know.

"I don't understand what happened! Yesterday it all went fine! …I think?" I whined out loud, though not sure if I had really checked everything in detail.

"It's okay. I would find it more strange if you really did everything with ease today. Judging from how fast you learn, you'll have to practice these jutsu at least two times a day for about a week or two in order for them to go smoothly." Iruka explained.

"Eh? So you mean that I could still screw up the two jutsu I did so well, too?!" I cried out, mentally feeling my confidence being smashed to pieces.

"Now, now, don't worry so much. Just change back to your real body for now." He ordered, knowingly not responding to my whining.

I did as he told me, undoing the jutsu and sighing disappointedly. I felt somewhat let down by myself because I messed up when it was looking like I was doing great…but I guessed that it probably wouldn't be normal if I did _everything _perfectly from the start.

* * *

"Don't you need to wait for Pakkun to pick you up?"

"I don't want to wait for him, I'm hungry."

I was standing outside of the academy building, on the grass field with Iruka.

About two hours had passed and today's training day was over. Iruka had given me some more tips about how to memorize hand seals and stuff, but right now I was more interested in getting lunch.

Not that there was much to be found in Kakashi's fridge…Most of the good stuff was bought by _me_.

"I think you should still wait though…Because Tsunade-sama can't completely trust you yet--"

"Yeah, yeah! Tsunade-sama _this_, Tsunade-sama _that_…Does everyone need to keep reminding me that I apparently cannot be trusted, because I'm **such** a great threat to society with my limited skills and lack of ninja-techniques?" I cut him off sarcastically, scoffing.

Iruka stared at me weirdly for a moment, before a soft smile broke through his serious face.

"Gomen Sorano-san, it's not that I think you can't be trusted…but since it's the Hokage's decision…I can't just ignore it." He tried to soften the blow.

"I know. It's just that…Ugh…never mind. I'll wait for Pakkun then." I continued to mope, crossing my arms over my chest in an annoyed way.

"No wait, what were you going to say?" He persisted gently, stepping closer to me.

_Feed meeeeeeeeeeee--! No wait that's not it. Ugh, stupid stomach…_

I wrapped my arms tighter around my waist, trying to prevent my stomach from making weird growling noises before I answered Iruka.

"It's just that I feel like everyone who knows about my 'situation' thinks I'm some sort of crazy criminal and they keep bugging me about what stupid things I know about the future. I'm tired of explaining myself…" I muttered irritably, unconsciously rubbing the sides of my waist to comfort myself.

"I see…" Iruka mused thoughtfully, moving closer.

"I just wish someone would leave the subject alone and accept me for who I am." I finished truthfully, kicking the grass.

"Lets make a promise then."

"What?" I looked up at Iruka, leaning back startled when I realized how close he had moved towards me while I was ranting about my problems.

"If you promise to work hard on controlling your jutsu, I'll promise not to bring up the subject that bugged you anymore." He suggested in a kind tone, looking down at me with a friendly expression.

"Seriously?" I blinked at him, watching him as he nodded.

"Cool! That's great. Thanks a lot Iruka--Err…I mean Umino-sensei. Sorry, where I come from we always use people's first names so I'm not used to this yet." I explained after correcting myself.

" I don't really mind. You can call me by my first name if you want to." He told me in a casual manner, putting a surprised look on my face which quickly turned into a smile.

"Ah okay…Then I guess you can just call me Miraiko instead of Sorano too." I agreed happily, earning an equally pleased look from the sensei.

A moment of silence then followed, with Iruka and I looking around awkwardly.

"Uhm…Maybe we should--"

Growl.

I felt my cheeks heating up when all of a sudden my stomach decided to growl annoyingly in the middle of my sentence. Iruka sent me a confused look.

"…Are you hungry?"

"Nah only a _little_--"

Grooooooooowl.

"...Okay fine, yes I'm _really_ hungry."

* * *

A content smile curled up my lips as the sweet scent spread through the kitchen, reaching my nose.

I was pouring some strawberry tea for Iruka and myself in two small light blue cups, while baking some bacon with eggs. Iruka had walked me back home and I felt relieved that I would be able to eat a home cooked meal that I was familiar with.

_Thank God he didn't want to go to Ichiraku to have ramen…It would've been way too embarrassing if I had to tell him that I can't hold the chopsticks properly…_

"Arigato." Iruka thanked politely as I set a cup of tea on the table for him.

Once I was done with cooking my meal, I also joined him, receiving a curious look when he noticed the food I was having.

"Bacon with eggs, typical meal where I come from." I answered his questioning look casually when I noticed his staring, taking a bite of some of my bacon.

"Oh. Smells good." He commented, looking pretty interested.

"Want some?" I offered, holding up my fork with a piece of crispy bacon attached to it.

"No that's alright--"

"C'mon try it! I can always make some more later."

"…Ah sure." He leaned over the table hesitantly, as I brought the fork closer to his mouth.

"Ahem. I don't want to disturb your amusing couple-style-eating but I need to talk you for a minute Miraiko-san." A familiar voice stated dryly, just when Iruka took the fork in his mouth.

"P-Pakkun?! When-? What the hell are you talking about, 'couple-style-eating'?!" I yelled embarrassedly at the droopy eyed dog that had made it's entry while Iruka nearly choked on his food.

"It's when you eat like a couple like you two did and--"

"I didn't mean that literally!"

"I think I'll leave for today. I'll see you tomorrow for training, Miraiko-chan." Iruka announced, dropping the fork back on my plate as he quickly left the room with a red face.

"…Miraiko-_chan_?" Pakkun repeated Iruka after he exited, sending me an amused look.

"Don't give me that look! We're just friends." I defended myself, feeling slightly surprised by myself because I called Iruka my friend.

The little dog shook his head and muttered something to himself about 'hormones' or something until he looked back at me. "Either way, I'm glad I finally found you. You shouldn't have just gone back home without someone to supervise you."

"Iruka-kun was with me, so I _did_ have someone to supervise me." I shot back with a smirk.

Pakkun remained quiet, unusually quiet, before he grinned. "Since when does Iruka allow you to use his first name so casually?"

My overconfident smirk instantly fell off my face. "IT'S NOTHING LIKE THAT!"

"Mhm…" Pakkun smiled innocently, though he didn't look very convinced.

"Why did you need to talk to me again?" I changed the subject instinctively, so the little dog couldn't embarrass me even more.

"Ah right. Kakashi wanted me to bring you over to the hospital so he could have a chat with you about your training."

_Oh joy…_


	12. Scene Twelve

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto land. **

* * *

"Are you done changing yet?"

"In a minute, stop being so impatient! It's annoying." I scolded Pakkun who was waiting outside in front of my room while I got rid of the sweaty clothes I'd used to train and switched them for more comfortable ones.

I posed in front of the mirror on the wall, examining my appearance.

"I wish I could dye my hair…" I grimaced, disliking my grass green coloured hair that hung loosely over my shoulders. In a way it was a pretty colour, but it still annoyed me because it stood out a lot whenever I was among people with **normal** hair colours.

It made me wonder how Sakura dealt with her hair…

"Miraiko-san!"

"Yeah, yeah!" I shushed the impatient dog, straightening the soft fabric of my light violet top and tight black skirt, nodding at myself appreciatively. Despite my hair colour, I still looked good.

"Finally, you're ready." Pakkun sighed exasperatedly as I walked out of my room, making me roll my eyes.

"I would've been done much earlier if you wouldn't have been yelling at me to hurry up every five seconds." I retorted, whipping my hair over my shoulder.

"But I didn't walk in without knocking this time."

"Oh what a _gentleman_ you've become."

* * *

"Kakashi, I brought Miraiko-san for you." I followed Pakkun into Kakashi's hospital room as the little brown dog announced my arrival.

The grey-haired jounin was sitting on his bed in a lazy position; one hand holding up an Icha Icha tactics novel while he had his left elbow resting on his left knee and used his left hand to lean his chin on.

"Hn…Ah right. Thanks…Pakkun." Kakashi drawled absentmindedly, obviously completely absorbed in his perverted little green book.

The dog didn't bother to reply anything and turned around, heading towards the door. I raised my eyebrows in confusion and stepped forward, stopping him.

"Eh? Where are you going Pakkun?" I asked in a hushed voice, somehow feeling the need to be quiet now I was around Kakashi.

"Hm? You're with Kakashi now, so I don't see why I should stay. He is your original supervisor after all. I'll be back in an hour or so. Bye." The dog replied matter-of-factly, resuming his stroll out of the room.

"Wha-? No, wait Pakku-!" I tried to stop him, but he had already exited, leaving me on my own with Kakashi.

I threw a wary glance at the jounin, not sure of what he was going to talk to me about. And without the impatient little dog who was usually with me most of the time, I felt less secure.

"Uhm…Hatake-san?" I broke the silence carefully, holding onto my left arm uncertainly.

No response.

_Maybe he's so absorbed in his own book that he won't notice if I leave…No I couldn't do that…_

I glanced back at the grey-haired man, who was grinning down at his book, probably because there was something perverted to be read…

…_But then again, I really don't feel like being scolded again… I mean what else could he talk to me about?...Iruka probably told him that I'm a horrible student or something…_

Before I knew it, the need to escape from a lecture had persuaded my legs into moving towards the door. Kakashi didn't move a muscle as I did so.

The door handle was already within my reach, I could almost touch it--

"Where do you think you're going, Miraiko-san?" Kakashi's warning made me freeze instantly.

_Crap. I was so close! _I thought gloomily, giving up on escaping my doom. I turned around cautiously and a nervous smile worked it's way up my lips.

Then I noticed that Kakashi's eyes were still glued to his book, instead of glaring at me with disapproval like I'd expected. He never even looked up from his book! How did I know I was trying to escape?!

"So Miraiko-san…How has training been going? I heard Tsunade-sama assigned Iruka to help you improve your jutsu." Kakashi's uninterested voice inquired, his eyes still not looking up to view me.

"Oh…Eh…Well, for now he wants me to learn basic jutsu to help me control chakra better." I answered quietly, watching him as he continued to read.

"Hn..."

"Uhm…He also said that it wouldn't take too long before I'd be able to start working on my own jutsu. He just wants to take it slow for now, I think."

"…I see…"

"Uhm and--"

"What about your wardrobe?"

"Uh…My _wardrobe_?" I blinked dumbly, not understanding how my clothes had anything to do with this talk.

Kakashi removed the hand that was holding up his chin and moved it to the small white wooden desk beside his bed, lifting up a wallet.

An _empty_ wallet. Uh oh.

"Pakkun informed me that you've been having trouble with picking clothes lately…" I gulped at the change of tone in Kakashi's voice, there was a more annoyed edge to it now.

The jounin finally removed his gaze from his book, clapping it shut in between his fingers. His dark eyes held a barely visible look of irritation. But it was hard to miss for me.

"…Could it have anything to do with _this_?" He questioned, turning the dark brown leather wallet upside down, revealing it's contents.

Which were…well…non-existent.

At the sight of the familiar object, I immediately began spouting excuses and whatever came to mind.

"Gomenasai! It's just…well, when I was shopping with Pakkun…There were just too many cute clothes and stuff! It was like they were calling out to me…'Buy me, buy me!' I didn't mean to spend everything!" I cried out pathetically.

To my surprise I wasn't cut off by a harsh threat. Kakashi merely continued to watch me with a hint of amusement.

"…You're not mad?" I sent him a confused look, not sure of how to take to this reaction.

"Not really. Though I accept your attempt to apologize." He smiled with his eyes closed, managing to suppress a grin.

I gawked at him. This guy…He made me believe he was going to get angry on purpose!

"However, I do expect you to return those clothes to the stores." He added seriously, opening his sharingan-less eye again.

"_Whaaaaat_? But then I'll have nothing left to wear!" I gasped disbelievingly.

"Don't worry, you can keep the clothes that are suitable to train in." The jounin shushed me, waving his hand at me lazily as if to try to cool my frustration down.

_Well at least that's something. _Despite what my mind was saying, I put on a whiny face and crossed my arms over my chest stubbornly.

"I bet if Iruka-kun would've been my supervisor, he **would** have let me keep them." I mused out loud, attempting to guilt-trip the jounin.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows at my words, looking slightly entertained. "Iruka-_kun_?"

_Oh God…Not this again!_

"Don't look at me like that! I-It's not what you think!" I exclaimed heatedly, beginning to stammer embarrassedly as I noticed an annoying grin spreading over his lips.

_First Pakkun, and now Kakashi! What's up with these people?! _

"Hai, hai…I get it. Don't worry about it." Kakashi interrupted me reassuringly, his provoking grin subsiding in a more calm smile.

I made a 'hmph' noise and turned my head away, still feeling a bit annoyed. However I could still feel a certain someone's eyes on me, causing me annoyance to re-build once more.

"What now?" I demanded irritably, placing my hands on my hips as I faced Kakashi. He was giving me a look that I was unfamiliar with.

"Nothing…Just noticed that you look much better than a few days ago." He smiled courteously, seeming to be quite pleased with my appearance.

I blushed and looked away again, clearing my throat before I muttered. "Thanks I guess. Can I go now?"

"Yes, you can go now. Though there's one more thing I'd like to ask you." He said in a thoughtful manner, turning to the other side of the bed and leaning down to grab something.

I glanced at him curiously as he continued to look for something, stopping when he resurfaced and held up his moss green vest, rummaging through a pocket to reveal…

A familiar stack of small torn blank papers. The ones that _I_ accidentally tore up.

"Is this by any chance your work?" He asked, waving the pieces at me lightly.

"Uhm…Uhm…I can explain-- I didn't mean to do that on purpose. It just happened all of a sudden!" I stammered, shocked to see that he found out about them.

"Hmm…I see." The jounin mused thoughtfully, twirling the shredded papers in his fingers. "Maa, it doesn't matter. For now…"

I started to feel guilty, hesitating to apologize. "Uhm…Was it something important?"

"Important? Not really, I can get more of these anytime." He shrugged uncaringly, still twirling them around boredly.

"But what are they? They're not normal papers right?" I asked curiously.

He put on that mysterious smile of his, tucking the papers back into his vest. "I'll tell you that when the time is right. But for now, I think it'd be better if you'd go back home. It's getting dark soon."

"Ah okay…But, I have a question…Who told you about the papers?"

"Pakkun of course. Why?"

"Oh I see…No reason…"

* * *

It was about nine o'clock in the morning.

A devious smile spread across my lips as I tasted a bit of the pancake I was baking for breakfast, making sure to make a delighted 'hmmm' noise as I did so. "Oh this tastes _so_ good! This must be the best one I've **ever** tasted!"

I started the countdown. Three. Two. _One_--

"Aaaah Miraiko-san! I'm sorry for telling Kakashi about the wallet and the papers! It's my job as your supervisor to report things like that! Please forgive me, I'm starving!" Came Pakkun's agonized cry for forgiveness.

"Hmmm…I wonder if I could share this with someone who's **honest** and not a **traitor**…Too bad I don't know anyone like that…" I ignored the little dog, scooping the pancake out of the frying pan and onto a plate where I had already made a small pile of pancakes.

"Miraiko-san! Please!" Pakkun begged, sounding hungry and desperate.

"I wonder if I can eat all of this all by myself. Maybe I can make some _birds_ happy with the leftovers later." I mused tauntingly, picking up the plate with pancakes and walking over to the table in the living room to eat.

I sat down and started eating, very aware of the fact that I practically killing Pakkun with the delicious smell of my homemade cooking that lingered all over the house.

What? He deserved some payback!

Finally after about five minutes of Pakkun's whining I couldn't take it anymore I burst out in laughter and headed back to the kitchen to get him some dog food.

"I'm not getting pancakes?" He asked, frowning at me when I placed the small bowl with dog biscuits in front of him.

"You're lucky that I'm even feeding you. Or is dog food below your standards? I can always take it back--"

"No, no! It's fine." The little dog cut me off hurriedly, clinging onto his food protectively, making me grin. Then I went back to have my own breakfast.

Around ten o'clock I headed back to my room to sort out the clothes that Kakashi had told me to return to the stores yesterday.

"I can't believe he's making me do this! There are so many of them…" I trailed off, suddenly realizing that in a way it was actually _good_ that he made me do this.

If I had less clothes it would be easier to pick an outfit and Pakkun wouldn't be able to yell at me impatiently whenever we needed to go somewhere.

"Aagh! This is going to take forever!"

Though I still didn't like the idea of having to go through a gigantic mountain of cute clothes that were all screaming for me not to get rid of them…

* * *

"Try again!"

_Ugh…My back is killing me._

"Good, but you can do better. Again!"

_How much longer do I have to do this? When will it end?!_

"You're almost there! Keep going!"

_Yeah easy for you to say! You're not the one who's working their ass off--_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

SMACK!

"…And you were so close too…" Iruka sighed disappointedly, shaking his head in defeat.

I on the other hand, wasn't so mobile with half of my upper body sprawled out on the ground while the lower half was hanging over the bush below the tree that I had fallen from.

"That's it! I'm not doing this ever again!" I hissed, swinging my legs away from the bush so I could sit up straight.

"Miraiko…You can't give up now. It's only been a half hour since you started." Iruka debated, giving me one of his annoying strict 'teacher' looks.

I grumbled in annoyance, ruffling my hair to get rid of the twigs and leafs that had worked their way into it.

"I don't see how learning to walk on trees helps me with my training. Unless getting a freaking hernia has something to do with it." I retorted, rubbing my sore back that had broken my fall numerous times during this training.

_Jeez…First I have to take back all my pretty clothes because Kakashi ordered me to…and an hour later I'm stuck with this training from hell! Is this a conspiracy or something? _I thought sourly, memories of saying goodbye to all my cute clothes flashing through my mind.

Iruka sighed once more, walking over to me to help me back on my feet. "Listen, Miraiko. In order to learn how to control your jutsu you need to learn how to focus the right amount of chakra when using jutsu."

I began to wipe the remaining bits of dirt and leafs off of me as he continued explaining.

"By learning the Kinobori no Waza Act of tree climbing you have to direct the accurate amount of chakra into your feet, which is the hardest location to focus chakra on. But if you do master it, you'll automatically be able to perform almost any jutsu because you'll be able to focus your chakra as needed. That's why I'm teaching you this."

"Seriously?" I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"Well, theoretically speaking yes, but don't worry about it. I'm positive that this kind of training will help you." He smiled reassuringly, reaching out to pluck a twig out of my hair.

Now he had explained to me why I was putting up with this literally back-breaking training, it felt more logical to continue with it. …Though the idea of possibly ending up with a _real_ hernia didn't sound very appealing.

"Iruka-sensei!" A young sounding voice shouted from a distance, drawing our attentions to a little boy, one of Iruka's academy students, who was waving his arms around in front of the building.

"Oh I forgot, I was supposed to tutor Kenta…" Iruka said, starting to move away from me until he looked over his shoulder to look at me. "Do you mind continuing training tomorrow?"

"Ah sure…Ten o'clock like usual?" I asked, receiving a small nod as a reply before the sensei turned around again and resumed his way towards the academy.

Once he disappeared inside the building with the little boy whose name was apparently Kenta, I returned my gaze to the tree that I'd been trying to climb for the past half hour.

_So if I manage to do this…I'll be one step closer to controlling my jutsu…_

I glanced back at the academy building briefly. _If I wait until tomorrow to continue I'll probably have to fall over a million times __**again**__ before I get the hang of it…That would kill me!_

"It's now or never. I'll definitely reach it today!" I declared to myself determinedly, getting into position to run up the tree again.

Little did I know how much agonizing pain awaited me…

* * *

"OW! OW! OW! OOOOOOOW! YOU'RE KILLING ME!"

"Hold still! Sheesh, I thought we agreed to continue training tomorrow? I can't believe you got yourself so messed up!" Iruka muttered in disbelief as he treated the bruises and scratches on my arms and legs with some disinfective medicine.

I winced while I underwent the merciless stinging sensations that came with the treatment. I couldn't believe how stupid I'd been by going along my 'I'm good enough to do it on my own' fantasy.

A whimper escaped my lips when Iruka dapped some of the medicine on the biggest wound I'd stupidly inflicted on myself by falling on top of a rock and cutting my right leg on a sharp edge.

"I'm almost done…" Iruka tried to soothe me as he started to bandage my leg. "There.."

"Thanks…itai!" I winced when I tried to move my leg, mentally cursing myself.

Iruka looked me up and down with concern evident in his expression. "Why did you go so far?"

"I thought that if I'd learn the tree thing today, I could move on with the training faster.." I admitted quietly, lowering my gaze to the floor of Iruka's office.

While I kept my eyes on the ground, I didn't notice the warm smile that curled up on Iruka's lips until I heard him chuckle softly, making me look up again.

"I'm happy to hear that you're starting to take your training seriously, but you don't have to rush into it and overwork yourself. We have plenty of time." He said, still smiling in that reassuring manner.

I snorted at his comment. "Yeah, let's see if you'll still say that when I accidentally smash a hole in the hospital _again_."

"Haha, I won't let it come to that. Just focus on your training, stop worrying about those kind of things." He laughed and patted my back, causing me to cough loudly.

"Gomen! Did it hurt?" He gasped, bending down a little until his face was on the same level as mine and placing a hand on my shoulder to steady me.

"No I'm fine, really. …Um.." I trailed off, suddenly noticing how close he was to me.

When I averted my eyes away from his shyly, he seemed to notice his position as well and quickly withdrew his face, standing up straight. "Err…Perhaps you should go home now so you can rest up. When you're feeling okay again, we'll resume the training."

"Yeah, I'll probably feel better tomorrow." I agreed, getting up from my chair.

"Ah no you can take your time. I don't want you to get hurt again." He objected, making me frown.

"Uhm…but I think I'll be okay. The worst wound that I've got is this cut on my leg and it isn't _that_ bad, the rest is just a few light scratches." I held my arms, showing him the minor injuries.

"Well, just be careful then." He murmured doubtfully, realizing that I wasn't planning to take a day off like he offered.

I narrowed my eyes in thought slightly, staring at him curiously. The way he acted towards me had changed somehow. What happened to the 'strict teacher' attitude?

"Let's go. I'll walk you home." He ordered before I could question his odd behaviour, automatically forcing me to follow him as he walked towards the door.

* * *

**Share your thoughts with me, pretty please. I need reviews to see how I'm doing...**


	13. Scene Thirteen

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land...Oh but if I did...Hehehehehe...**

* * *

"Are you sure it's her?"

"Of course it's her! Are you stupid? We've been watching her for three days!"

"Yeah, yeah. My bad, I just wanted to be sure."

"There's no mistaking it's that green haired girl. Anyway, let's get ready. We don't want her to notice us again… She almost caught us last time."

"Yeah you're right."

They nodded in agreement and leapt up in the air from the branches, the leafs of the tree rustled silently with the sudden movements as the two figures split up.

* * *

"I'm a failuuuuuuuuure! I can't do this, I'm hopeless as a ninja!" I cried out in despair pathetically after failing to complete the Kinobori no Waza Act of tree climbing yet _again_.

Towering high above me stood the large mighty old tree, remaining undefeated. It was almost as if it was laughing at me.

_'Bwhahaha! Miraiko you shall never walk me! You're doomed to be a failure! DOOMED!!' _

I could already imagine it mocking me with evil laughter spouting from it's non-existent mouth, it's low voice replaying in my mind over and over and over and—

"NO! I will do this!..._Eventually_…!" I shook my head wildly, mentally shaking out the discouraging thoughts that washed over me.

Iruka wasn't with me today, I had met him for training at the academy though and I'd given him a bentou Japanese home-made meal.

I had made it to thank him for helping me last night, but once I handed it to him he suddenly flushed, got all nervous and took off abruptly while muttering something about being too busy to train me.

He's seriously starting to worry me.

But at least he wasn't here to play the annoying strict teacher, which meant that I could continue training on my own pace. It felt relaxing.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! STUPID TREE!"

SMACK!

…Though it didn't make my training any easier.

I just laid there, glaring up at the tree that had refused to let me walk on it for what seemed like the millionth time. It probably _was_ the millionth time too.

_Why was I doing this again? Oh yeah, to learn how to control chakra properly…which I obviously suck at big time. Maybe I should just give up. I'm horrifying as a ninja--_

Growl.

I let out a moan of annoyance when I heard my stomach growling for food, darting up from my lying-position to sit up straight. Then I reached for the small brown bag that was attached to the black belt around my waist, pulling out a green bentou-box.

"Thank God for food…" I greedily snatched a tasty looking sandwich out of the box and took a gigantic bite, filling up my mouth completely and not caring how weird my face probably looked like.

A cool, refreshing breeze of wind swept by me as I munched on my lunch, the soft caress easing my tiredness a little as I thought over my next plans for today.

_I'm determined to complete this jutsu today. I'm sick of throwing myself against trees like some blind retarded monkey. I might as well start living in them if I keep this up--_

"OW!" I shrieked when a sudden weight collapsed on top of my head, making me drop my sandwich on the dirty ground involuntarily. My eyes fell on a medium sized branch that had fallen of the tree.

"What the heck? Can't I even eat in peace around here or something?!" I yelled at the tree, shaking my fist at it angrily.

Then, before I could move my leg to kick the tree out of annoyance, I was knocked down on the ground harshly by an unknown force that hit me in the stomach.

I stared up at the sky blankly, completely taken aback.

_W-What the hell just happened? Does the tree know telekinesis or something? Is it…ALIVE?!_

Thoughts of utter idiocy flooded my mind as I continued to stare dumbly, not moving a muscle because I was too confused to move at the moment.

"Huh?! When did this happen?!" And when I moved my head to look down, I noticed that I was magically tied me up by…something…or someone. Moaning in defeat, I dropped my head back on the grass grunting when it hit the hard ground with a thud.

_Alright. So there are three things that might've happened._

_One: Iruka thought it was funny to surprise me with some kind of weird jutsu that tackles me with a rope and ties me up, so he could see if I'd improved on my jutsu yet… Even though he said he was too busy to train me._

_Two: The tree hates me, knows telekinesis and how to tie someone up with a rope without having the ability to see me because it doesn't have any eyes._

_Three: The tree hates me, got hungry, tied me up and wanted to eat my lunch even though it doesn't have a mouth--_

…

_NONE OF THOSE CAN BE RIGHT!! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!_

"Heh…She really_ is_ easy to catch Hiro."

"I told you."

The chaotic screams for explanations in my mind were put on hold when I heard two male voices mocking me and two heads popped up above me. Both men looked like they were in their mid-twenties, one of them had blonde hair and the other had bluish black hair.

And both of them were grinning at me evilly like two idiots on crack.

"Let me go! RELEASE ME!" I demanded angrily, struggling to get out of the rope's firm grip. It was too tight to break free from.

"Ah don't bother trying to escape, Kuro's thread is indestructible." The blonde guy whose name was apparently Hiro smirked, sending me a smug look.

"Yeah." Kuro confirmed cockily, crossing his arms over his black vest.

I clenched my teeth and threw a dirty look at them, ceasing my attempts to break free.

"What the hell do you two want from me? I don't remember ever associating myself with a bunch of stupid grinning idiots." I snapped at them, trying to sound more confident than I actually was.

"Are you sure **we** are the idiots? I mean, we weren't the ones who just got themselves caught in a **below** genin level trap, now were we?" Hiro stated, grinning amusedly at the rope that was still tightly wrapped around me.

"Yeah." Kuro confirmed, also grinning at me.

_He's got a point there, you know. You're officially screwed now. _A familiar annoying inner voice commented in my mind, making me grit my teeth.

"Fine. Will you please tell me what you want from me now?" I asked, deciding that insulting these guys wouldn't help me much.

"That comes later. For now we're going somewhere more private. Come on, Kuro." Hiro ordered his accomplice, heading towards the forest.

"B-But wait! I don't want to go anywhere private! …HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I screamed in terror when Kuro abruptly picked me in 'bridal style' and followed Hiro into the forest.

Something told me I was not going to like this…

* * *

"This place looks good enough."

"Yeah."

"Lets stop here."

"Yeah."

"Will you stop saying 'yeah' whenever you agree with him already?! You've been saying that for the past half hour-- OW!" Kuro rudely dropped me on the ground beside a tree before I could finish yelling at him.

I was plastered on the grass still tied up and looked like a shrivelled-up caterpillar that had been out in the burning sun for too long.

My chin was resting on the grass until two hands roughly grabbed my shoulders and made me sit up against the tree. Hiro's dark eyes looked into mine as he crouched down in front of me.

"Well then, let's start. We know you know what's going to happen in the future and we want you to tell us all about it. Otherwise…" He held up a sharp kunai when he paused.

"…there'll be unpleasant consequences."

_What? How do these guys know that about me?! _

"You're probably wondering how we know. Well, we've been following you ever since we overheard your interesting chat about the future with the Hokage and we've been waiting for a chance to capture you."

…_Okay…Good to know that someone actually believed me that quickly…but how am I supposed to know their freaking future?! I haven't read a thing about them in the manga!_

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I lied, putting on a confused face to add a more false truthful effect to my answer.

Hiro narrowed his eyes at me and in a flash the kunai was pressing against my throat.

"I know what I heard, you can't fool me with that innocent act."

"And you actually believed what you heard? Pfft. I only said that to fool Tsunade-sama. Guess she's not the only one who fell for it though..." I smirked, bluffing like hell.

"Yeah…maybe she did lie, Hiro. I mean, it is a weird story…" Kuro added, making Hiro sigh in annoyance.

"Hn. I guess you're right. Lets kill her then." He pressed the kunai further against my throat.

_Yeah lets--! WAIT WHAT?! NO THAT WASN'T PART OF THE PLAN!!_

"No! Wait, wait! Can't we talk about this? Without knives?!" I pleaded desperately, instantly regretting that I ever tried to bluff my way out of this mess.

"Sorry kid. I'm afraid we're done talking--"

That's when out of nowhere…A figure knocked the kunai out of Hiro's hand and started beating the crap out of him and Kuro. The man…or whatever it was, moved so fast that I could only see a blurry black thing tossing Hiro and Kuro around like rag dolls.

I gawked at the scene with wide eyes, too amazed to blink.

Finally when Hiro and Kuro dropped down on the ground with a dull thud, the blurry figure disappeared and reappeared next to me, picking me up and dashing away at what seemed like the speed of light…

…Okay, so he didn't go THAT fast, but he was still pretty damn quick.

Once we were far, far away from the two men who kidnapped me, the stranger put me back down on the ground gently with my head facing the opposite direction of where he was standing.

I sighed in relief, smiling and turning around to thank him.

"Hey, thanks a lot for helping me…Eh?" My grateful smile turned into a horrified gasp when my eyes came in contact with a familiar black cloak. With red clouds on it.

"…OH MY GOD NOT _YOU_!"


	14. Scene Fourteen

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto land. **

* * *

Horror was written all over my face as I gawked dumbfounded at my saviour, whose face was hidden behind swirling round light orangeness.

_This can't be happening! Why did HE of all people have to save ME?! _

"I did it! I caught the future girl! Deidara-sempai will be so proud of me!" My 'saviour' cried out in blissful happiness, throwing his arms in the air in a 'yay' sort of way.

I continued to gawk at the black cloaked man as he continued to prance around cheerfully, completely unaware of my current freaked out thoughts.

Tobi.

From the Akatsuki.

Had SAVED me.

…For _Deidara_?

**WHAT THE HELL?!**

"H-Hey! Wait a minute! What are you talking about?" I broke off his happy moment, bringing him back to reality.

A gloved finger rose up in the air to point at me, followed by a boastful speech from Tobi.

"You're the rumoured girl who's got the power to see the future! I have heard all about it and now I shall prove to Deidara-sempai that it wasn't just my idiotic imagination by taking you to him!" The orange masked man announced dramatically, clenching his fist determinedly.

I blinked at him, not quite getting what he was saying until the words 'taking you to **him**' ran through my mind.

"You're…You're taking me to HIM?! WHAT?!" I exclaimed in horror, already imagining the gruesome fate Deidara would have in store for me.

Awful memories of evil little clay birds making me jump around like a retarded ballerina entered my mind…and I was pretty sure that if the sadistic blonde would encounter me a second time, he wouldn't hesitate to repeat that horrible torture.

…Or worse?!

"Yes! With your ability to see our great future I will finally be accepted as a full Akatsuki member and we'll rule the world!!" Tobi laughed triumphantly, completely distracted by his own fantasies.

"Uhm…Rule the world?" I almost felt the urge to let one of those anime sweat drops roll off my face, but it didn't prevent Tobi from going on and on about his future fame.

"Oh I hope Deidara-sempai will be here soon! I can't wait to show you to him!"

_Yeah well I don't. _I thought sourly, still observing him with an unnerved look.

"Wait…you mean he's not in the neighbourhood right now? I thought you were always around him." I asked curiously, causing the orange masked man to halt his prancing.

"Ah…Yes…We were sort of supposed to be looking for the next jinchuuriki but then I noticed you and I couldn't help but to come down for you. Deidara-sempai kept yelling for me to come back though…" Tobi trailed off, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

_Typical for him…_I suppressed a laugh, shaking my head in disbelief. Then a mischievous plan made it's way into my mind. _Tobi is probably the most gullible member of the Akatsuki…What if I can fool him and escape quickly…_

"Ne Tobi-san…" I began, plastering the sweetest smile on my face I could master at the moment. The mentioning of his name instantly made him look up in surprise.

"You know my name?!" He gasped, somewhat excitedly.

"Of course I know your name Tobi-san! In the near future you will become the strongest ninja that has ever walked the earth! I have seen it all...in my pink magical crystal err…_goldfish bowl."_

"Oh wow! Really?! You've got a pink magical crystal goldfish bowl? Can I see it?!"

"Uhh…Maybe later…Anyway you posses an unseen power. The power to create the ultimate jutsu and you shall obtain it soon but…" I trailed off mysteriously, building up the expectant tension.

"But…You won't obtain it if you don't go to your Deidara-sempai right now…**Without** me…Now go…Quickly!" I finished dramatically, motioning into a random direction with my head.

"Oh jolly joy! Yes! I'll go to Deidara-sempai right now! You'll wait here okay?"

"Ah…Yeah _sure_." As soon as I agreed, the excited masked man dashed out of my sight to find his sempai and his (literally) unseen power.

* * *

"That was too easy! Haha!" I burst out in laughter, turning around to walk away when I lost my balance and smashed my body on the hard ground.

Damn. I forgot.

I was still tied up…

_You seriously are the biggest moron that has ever walked the earth and you know it. Why didn't you let him untie you before you thought of that stupid story?! _My irritated mind mentally scolded me, while I was trying to get up from the ground.

I guessed that it'd been an hour already since I told Tobi to go on his magical quest for super ninja strength and I was still lying helplessly on the grass.

Moreover I didn't know where the hell I was and if I even still were in the area that belonged to Konoha. And it was starting to get **dark**…which didn't invite any pleasant thoughts either.

_I wish someone…anyone… would come by to help me…Really anyone…Except for a bear. Or a wolf. Oh God what if I'm gonna get eaten by wild animals?!—_

"TOBI! OI! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, UN?!"

…Oh no.

WOLVES BEARS OR WHATEVER OKAY, BUT NOT _**HIM**_!!

The sound of flapping wings and a certain someone who was yelling caused every nerve in my body to explode with terror and I started to feel nauseas.

The feeling didn't get any better when I heard that certain someone jumping on the ground a couple of meters away from me. Footsteps edged closer to me and…

_Do something! Anything!_

Poof!

"Hn? Oi Tobi there are you. What are you…" Deidara's eyes widened in surprise as they fell on me, but the emotion quickly switched over to pure irritation.

"What the hell were you thinking, getting yourself tied up?!" The blonde hissed into my ear as he lowered his body to untie me.

"Gomenasai sempai! I didn't know that that future girl would be so strong!" I cried out pathetically, rubbing the new black fabric that covered my sore arms to relieve the light pain from the ropes.

"What? You still believe that crap?! And—Wait…You've seen her, un?" Deidara raised a blonde eyebrow at me, looking slightly taken aback.

"Ah yes! But she got away, she's stronger than I thought!" I laughed nervously, scratching the back of my neck.

_Good going idiot…Using Henge no jutsu to transform into Tobi…Now you're going to be stuck with him even longer! _I mentally scolded myself, but I knew this was the only way to be close to Deidara without getting blown to pieces.

The only problem now was, how would I get away?

"Come, we're leaving. Forget about that bothersome woman, un." Deidara ordered suddenly, causing me to stare blankly at him for a moment. I still wasn't quite used to playing the role of being Tobi.

When I didn't jump up obediently accompanied by some hyper exclamation, the blonde Akatsuki member shot a suspicious look at me, snapping me back to reality.

"Uhm...OH JOLLY JOY! YES LETS GO THEN DEIDARA-SEMPAI!" I exclaimed out of the blue, slapping his back cheerfully and marching away with an awkward look on my face. The Akatsuki member looked equally awkward, gawking at me as if my sanity had been knocked out of my head by a gigantic rock.

He didn't question it though. Luckily.

We continued to walk towards the spot where Deidara had left his bird, with the blonde walking beside me but I couldn't help but to notice that his visible eye would occasionally flicker over my chest, looking quite interested in the view.

_Just ignore it…Maybe…Maybe those two are into that kind of stuff…_I kept telling myself, though the thought of Tobi and Deidara having **that** kind of a relationship just sounded…wrong. Ew.

"Oi…" Deidara's low voice allowed me to escape from the weird thoughts I was having, and I glanced back at him.

"Uh yes, Deidara-sempai?" I asked politely.

"Are you feeling okay? I've noticed your stomach looks strange, un…" He commented, sounding more suspicious than concerned.

I frowned from behind the orange mask, redirecting my gaze downwards and I held in the horrified gasp that was close to erupting from my throat.

_Th-That's not my stomach! Those are—Oh God! Not again!_

"Ah…uhm…Haha…It's nothing! Just ate too much last night I guess!" I chirped nervously, quickly crossing my arms over my awfully misshaped chest.

The moment I attempted to hide the flaw in my body, Deidara's eye narrowed at me and he snapped into action, tackling me against a tree where he kept me pinned and…

Squeeze.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! SEXUAL HARRASSMENT! PERVERT! SICKO!"

Poof!

"Oh crap."

Sky blue eyes leered at me as my body returned to it's original form, exposing my true identity to the blonde Akatsuki member who looked rather pissed off.

"Uhm…Surprise? Heheh…" I tried to lighten up the mood, but judging by the murderous look on Deidara's face when he seemed to remember who I was, it didn't exactly do wonders for his temper.

"You again…Did you really think you could fool me with such a poor copy of Tobi? Where is the real one?" Deidara hissed at me, his narrowed eyes piercing mine with a menacing glare.

"How should I know? H-He went looking for y-you!" I managed to bring out weakly, partly because of the hand that wrapped around my throat and partly because of the other hand that was still firmly placed on my _chest _for crying out loud--

Wait a sec…Since when does he have TWO hands again?!

"Why do you have two hands again?!" I yelped, voicing my puzzled thoughts.

"That's none of your business, un. Why were you with Tobi? Don't tell me he believed that YOU were that future brat or whatever he's been whining about lately, un." Deidara demanded impatiently.

_Oh wait, right, later in the manga he got a replacement or something for the arm that Gaara destroyed with his sand…that explains his new arm I guess--_

"Answer the damn question before I break your neck, un." Deidara's harsh threat broke off my moment of reminiscing, making me gulp and cower in fear.

"Well I sort of am that 'future brat', I guess." I blurted out before I could think straight, my green eyes widening along with Deidara's blue ones after the words rolled out spontaneously.

"You're _what_?!" He exclaimed heatedly, clenching **both** of his hands tighter.

"KYAAAAAH!"

"What now?!"

"Stop TOUCHING me!!"

BOOM!

…That sounded familiar somehow…

* * *

I love writing this sto**R**y. **E**very finished chapter makes me laugh **V**ery much.

Although** I** would love to h**E**ar your thoughts too...

So...**W**ill you review for me, my lovely reader?


	15. Scene Fifteen

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto land. I _do_ own the insane laughter that is about to catch you off guard.**

* * *

"Why aren't you capable of controlling your damn jutsu, un?!"

"I'm still learning! And this wouldn't have happened in the first place if you hadn't been sexually harassing me, you jerk!"

"Why in hell would I sexually harass you?! I've got better taste in women, _grass head_."

"Grasshead?! What kind of a lame insult is that? And you WERE harassing me, PERVERT."

"I wasn't harassing you, un. I was investigating!"

"You were practically **groping** me!"

"…Hn. Got me there, heh."

"Ew. Wipe that sick smirk off your face and help m--AAAAAAAAH!"

I burst into a shrill scream, having to cease my yelling at the perverted S-rank criminal, because another one of my chaotic boulders nearly crashed on top of me.

Again. And it's all HIS fault!

Chakra loaded red (stones) bombs were flying around like crazy, because HE had scared me and HE had freaking groped me.

When it was safe again I turned my head to glare at HIM, _Deidara_, who'd sought cover underneath the tree that was a few meters away from mine, where the perverted bastard still refused to drop his provoking smirk.

_I wish I could control this annoying jutsu already, so I could SQUASH HIM… And his smirk!_

While several ways of causing Deidara a long miserable death ran through my mind, the blonde seemed to be a whole lot calmer than me. He would only occasionally shift position to avoid being hit by one my stones bombs.

His movements were smooth, swift and calculated, unlike mine, which were reckless, disorientated and…crackbrained.

Compared to him I looked like freaking headless chicken breaking it's legs on hot needles while he danced around with the gracefulness of a swan--

…What the hell am I thinking?!

"Oi grasshead! How much longer is this going to take?! I've got better things to do you know, un." Came the swan's graceful call--Ugh _stop_ that!...Came the **perverted bastard's** demanding shout.

"As long as I want it to last!" I snapped back irritably, glowering at him as he dodged another boulder elegantly.

From a distance I could see him shaking his head in annoyance. The faint movement of him rolling his visible blue eye captured my eyes, before he threw his head back against the tree he was leaning against.

"Why am I always stuck with the morons…Un…I should just blow you up." He muttered, sounding bored and irritated as he stared up at the sky.

I decided not respond with a comment that would persuade him into talking more, so I just turned my head and kept an eye on my disobedient flying stones.

Which apparently agitated the bored blonde, seeing as I was his only company for an unknown period of time and I wasn't doing anything to entertain him.

"Hey didn't you hear me, baka? I said might blow you up, yeah!" He yelled at me, a slight hint of disappointment evident in his voice. It seemed like he expected me to jump around in fear for his threat.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." I muttered back disdainfully, waving my hand at him airily, not in the mood for his blabbing.

Something told me that he had no intention of really killing me anyway, rather than that it looked more like he wanted to toy with me. Which I didn't find very amusing.

_Stupid sadistic idiot. What does he expect me to do, beg for my life? _I rolled my eyes at the ridiculous mental image that appeared in my mind, scoffing.

"Oi grasshead--"

"My name isn't grasshead for the last freaking time!"

"Then what _is_ it? Jeez, such a temper un."

"Miraiko…Sorano Miraiko."

"Fine then, Miraiko-grasshead, what is--" BOOM! "Whoa! Holy cra-"

I burst out in laughter, feeling pretty amused as I watched the clay artist diving away to avoid an incoming boulder, barely escaping from it.

He ended up having to seek cover behind a tree near mine, shooting imaginary daggers at me when he caught me laughing at him. "I wouldn't be laughing if I were you, un…"

"H-Hey! Keep your distance!" I panicked, scrambling away behind a bush when I noticed he started advancing towards me while dodging the boulder storm quite easily.

He only chuckled thoughtfully in response and before I knew it he was sitting underneath the same tree as I was. The only thing preventing him from moving closer to me was the small bush I was hiding behind.

"So as I was saying, un…" He grinned at me over the bushes, his visible eye leering at me.

"Wh-What..?" I managed to say, making sure to take in his every move now he was this dangerously close.

"Why not have a nice little chat since we're stuck with each other. Unless you want me to blow you up for real out of pure boredom, un." His grin grew wider, accompanied by a hint of mischief.

"A _chat_? Are you serious?" I blinked at him in confusion, wondering if the request was merely a diversion to catch me off guard or something.

"Yeah, you can start by telling me where the hell all that crap about being from the future came from. " He replied bluntly, leaning back against the tree while his eyes travelled up to stare at the flying boulders.

"Why would I tell you about that? You're my enemy, remember?" I declined stubbornly, folding my arms over my chest protectively.

"Un, is that so…Well then if you insist on being enemies so much, let me grant your wish."

I barely even got the chance to ask what he meant, when I came face to face with one of his clay birds that he'd apparently been busy claying this entire time.

"I'm sure you remember this little bird, un. Wouldn't it be lovely to make it chase you like last time? Oh and with all these lethal stones flying around I'm sure it will **much** more entertaining, un…" The blonde smirked evilly at me, daring me to disagree.

"Ah o-okay, I think it wouldn't hurt to tell you a little about the future thing I guess…Now please put that _away_." I laughed nervously, holding back a relieved sigh when Deidara flicked his finger and the bird flew away.

"Uhm lets see…" I watched as the clay bird flew against a boulder, creating a big explosion that put a pleased smile on Deidara's face.

"I didn't exactly come from this world, but sort of a place where I can see the past and the future of this world. But I don't know everything about the future, because it's…uhm…still being created. It's complicated." I explained, expecting to hear a wave of arrogant laughter to mock me.

However the S-rank bomb terrorist didn't appear to be disbelieving me, he actually looked a bit intrigued by my words.

"And how exactly did you end up here then, un?" He asked, not bothering to look at me.

"That's what I'm still trying to figure out too. And I also don't know how to get out of here yet." I sighed, looking down sadly.

"Hn. Excellent." I heard Deidara chuckle, making me frown.

"_Excellent_?! What are you talking about? That isn't--" Before I could finish my angry retort, my eyes came in contact with the thoughtful look on the criminal's face, which didn't mean any good news.

"Yes, excellent. So basically you're saying that you've got nowhere to go and you're completely on your own…un." Deidara turned his head fully, facing me with an evil grin plastered on his face.

"I-I'm not alone! I've got Naruto and Iruka and Kakashi and Tsunade…and…" I trailed off and lowered my eyes to the ground, suddenly realizing that none of those people were within my reach right now.

"Yes...?" The blonde continued to grin at me in that provoking manner, knowing perfectly well what was going on in my mind.

_This isn't good. At all. What is he thinking? _I swallowed hard, not daring to look up at him again. He was obviously up to something.

Without warning I felt myself being pulled forward towards Deidara, the twigs and branches of the bush I was hiding behind lightly scratching my arms and legs in the rough process.

"Uhm…" I swallowed back my words, staring at the black cloak's collar that appeared in front of me, meaning that I was merely inches away from the Akatsuki member's face.

"Quite interesting…So you know all about what'll happen in the future…un." I could feel his light breath on my forehead as he spoke, making me shiver a little.

His finger pushed up my chin, forcing me to look at him.

"Tell me, what do you know about my future, un?" He asked, still grinning.

I glared at him, at first refusing to answer him but then something caught my eye.

"I know you'll be having a **very **bad headache within 5 seconds from now."

"Huh?"

The moment the blonde artist lost his guard for just a split second because of confusion, I took the chance to jump away just in time before--

SMASH!

"WHAT THE HELL?! THAT THING NEARLY KNOCKED MY HEAD OFF!"

I held in the laughter that was waiting to explode from my mouth when Deidara nearly got hit on the head by a flying boulder, luckily for him it smashed into the nearest tree instead.

He whipped around swiftly, his angry eyes finding my figure on top of a high rock.

"You'll pay for that, little brat!" He yelled at me, shoving his hands into the pouches on either side of his waist.

"You'll have to catch me first, _un_!" I mocked him, jumping off the rock while performing hand seals and two seconds later I was dashing into the forest with a clone running beside me.

* * *

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"TAKE THAT YEAH!"

Perhaps I had been a little **too** confident about escaping Deidara though.

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

_A little my mental butt. _My mind criticized me as Deidara's birds, spiders, butterflies, and whatever he was throwing at me, blew up my poor clone for the hundredth time.

I performed the hand seals again, creating another clone as a diversion but it was starting to wear me out. Not knowing how to properly use the right amount of chakra really didn't help right now.

My arms and legs were starting to grow tired from all the running. I knew that Deidara wasn't experiencing that kind of trouble, because he was sitting on top of his stupid bird so he could effortlessly bombard me from the sky.

"Ready to give up yet, un?! You're no match for my beautiful art!" I could hear Deidara's wicked laughter from above me, causing me to grit my teeth in frustration.

_What the hell was I thinking?! There's no way I can take on that art obsessed psycho by myself! What am I going to do?!_

I closed my eyes for a brief second, hoping that I'd somehow come up with a plan.

_You can always give up…_

My eyes snapped open when the idea passed through my mind, it shocked me that I even had this kind of thought.

_But…I'm not that strong like Sakura or strong-willed like Naruto…_

My confidence was slipping away and I also unconsciously started running slower.

_Give up already. It's obvious you can't wi--_

_But what if I __**can**__? If Naruto and Sakura can do this then I can do it too, right?!_

As if debating with my own thoughts sent a surge of adrenaline through my body, I found the ability to increase my pace again and I aimed for the highest tree I could find.

"Now or never!" I ordered myself determinedly, running towards the tree and leaping up in the air.

_Stay on it! _I kept yelling at myself in my mind as I began to run up the tree, praying that I would be able to keep the right amount of chakra in my feet.

One step became two steps and soon I noticed that I was really doing it.

"The kinobori no Waza, I completed it!" I exclaimed when I saw that I was able to just stand there, on the side of the tree, without losing my balance like I had so many times before.

I didn't know whether to be happy because I finally did it or frustrated because it took me so long, but a smile broke through my face.

"Art is a bang!" I could suddenly hear Deidara shouting from the sky and ten birds racing towards me came into my vision.

_I think I can do it now. I know I can._

"Katsu!" Deidara announced the incoming explosion.

The birds were mere seconds away from blowing up.

I entwined my fingers, squeezing my hands together tightly.

"Iwa no Boufuu!"

A massive explosion of sound deafened my ears right after I shouted the words, forcing me to cover my ears. The view was amazing though.

A chain reaction of explosions danced through the sky, clay birds smacking against red boulders that caused them to blow up with the impact. But there was a difference this time.

_I_ was controlling the boulders this time.

"I see, so this is how I do it." I mumbled to myself, dazed. I could properly feel the flow of chakra I was putting into my jutsu. It wasn't sucking out all of my energy like last time, _I_ was deciding the amount now.

"Oi grasshead!" Deidara's voice snapped me out of my daze, drawing my attention upwards.

He was waving his arm to the right wildly, as if to signal for something but I just thought he was angry because I survived his attack. Little did I know it was quite the opposite.

"What now, Mr. Un? Mad because you lost?" I boasted like the overconfident moron I was, totally unaware of the danger that was edging closer to me.

He was shouting something but I didn't catch it.

"What are you sayi--KYAAAH!" I screamed out in pain, completely caught off guard by the unexpected kick I received in my back.

And even worse was that it sent me flying straight down to the ground.

_I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to--_

"Gah!"

I gasped when the suddenly air got knocked out of me as my stomach hit something solid. I blinked, noticing that it was something black and red and—

"Oh my God!" I backed away, nearly falling off the bird that saved me when I made the horrifying discovery that I was lying in Deidara's lap. "When the hell did you—"

"Shut up, un. Lets deal with those two first." The blonde cut me off rather rudely, but I moved my head to look down where he was looking anyway.

Two annoyingly familiar men were standing on top of the tree I just got kicked out of.

"Th-Those are the jerks who tried to kidnap me!" I stuttered in shock, backing away which made me fall into Deidara's lap _again_.

"Hn is that so…" A sinister smile tugged at his lips. "Guess I should go say 'hi' then, un…"

* * *

I love writing this sto**R**y. **E**very finished chapter makes me laugh **V**ery much.

Although** I** would love to h**E**ar your thoughts too...

So...**W**ill you review for me, my lovely reader?


	16. Scene Sixteen

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto land. If I did own it, then I would make Itachi Hokage just to piss off Sasuke and Naruto .**

* * *

Naruto and his team had gotten back to Konoha after their mission, which ended in a failure, and now Sakura, Sai and Naruto were at the hospital to talk to Kakashi.

"I see…So this is the new team member…Sai was it? Nice to meet you."

"…Thank you." The raven haired boy mumbled back silently, holding his red cheek where a painful bruise was starting to form. Beside him stood Naruto who was holding his cheek in the same manner.

Sakura smiled nervously, as Kakashi observed the two boys for a brief moment before calling the pink haired kunoichi to his side. "Sakura, come here for a sec…"

The kunoichi moved towards him, leaning down to lend him her ear. "What is it?"

"Both of them are hurt…Did they get in a fight or something? Naruto's a bit short tempered so it doesn't surprise me but…" Her sensei whispered to her, causing the girl to jump back startled.

"Oh no! It's nothing, really. We're all _very _good friends!" Sakura chirped back forcefully, waving her hand dismissively.

_No need to tell him that I was the one who punched them…Though Sai totally deserved it for calling me 'ugly dog'…He's crap at reading people's characteristics! SHANNAROO! _

Inner Sakura grunted in her mind as Kakashi replied with a, "Oh, well then things are okay, I suppose…"

"Hahaha…Of course." She laughed nervously again, while Naruto and Sai were left to wonder what got her acting so weird. Naruto was the first to speak after an awkward silence.

"Uhm…Kakashi-sensei, our last mission, it…" Naruto began, before trailing off uncertainly.

"I've already heard everything from Yamato, he told me about Sasuke as well." Kakashi interjected, his eyes aimed down at the Make-Out tactics book in his hand.

The serious look in Naruto's eyes intensified. "We don't have any time left. We aren't strong enough to bring Sasuke back…He's gotten way too strong." He looked down remorsefully.

"Well in that case you only need to become stronger than him, right?" Kakashi simply replied, drawing Sakura's worried eyes to him.

"But…Even as I looked at him, it was clear that the speed at which he'd gotten stronger…isn't normal at all…And after consulting with Tsunade-sama, she told me it's possible that he's been using forbidden jutsu or has been given drugs during his training…And with someone like Kabuto working with him, well…" She trailed off, looking down.

"In that case you'll just need to get even stronger than him, at a faster rate." Kakashi continued, his eyes never leaving his book.

"Yeah, but how?" Sakura asked, doubtfully.

"You don't think I've just been sleeping around here without thinking, do you? I was thinking the whole time…and something came to me--"

"Kakashi-san!" A loud voice interrupted Kakashi's words all of a sudden and a panting Iruka slammed the door open, looking pretty tired.

"Iruka-sensei?!" Naruto exclaimed, staring at his old sensei with wide eyes.

"Oh Naruto! It's been a long time since I've seen you, did you just get back to Konoha?" Iruka's face lit up when his dark eyes fell on his former academy student.

"Yeah, we were just talking to Kakashi-sensei about our last mission." The blonde ninja explained, as Iruka fully entered the room.

"What's wrong Iruka?" The jounin asked, finally tearing his eyes away from his book, looking slightly annoyed that he had to stop reading.

"Err…Well…I was wondering if Miraiko-chan was with you, but now I see she isn't…" Iruka's eyes travelled around the room, a disappointed look appearing in them.

"Wasn't she supposed to be training with you?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow at him, sending him a somewhat surprised look.

"Well…I was a little busy, so she resumed training by herself, but when I went to the training field she wasn't there." Iruka admitted, a pink shade on his cheeks.

Kakashi just shrugged, unconcerned. "She probably went home with Pakkun. You should check with him."

"She isn't with me either." Another new voice interrupted the conversation, this time by the little brown dog that was standing in the doorway.

"I also tried looking for her, but she wasn't at home…not even at the shops…" Pakkun told them, concern evident in his voice when he said that she wasn't shopping.

"EHH?! Miraiko-chan is gone?!" Naruto exclaimed in shock, jumping up.

"We've got to go find her!"

* * *

Meanwhile…somewhere in the middle of nowhere…

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT! WHY DID YOU BLOCK MY ATTACK?! I WAS SO CLOSE TO KILLING THEM, YEAH!"

"It's okay to get rid of them, but not to kill them!"

"It's the same, un. Besides, when did you suddenly learn to control your jutsu? Against _me_ for crying out loud. _I_ was the one who protected your virgin butt from them!"

"You were going to **blow them up** for God's sake! I had to do something. And when did I ask _you_ to protect me?!"

"Oh please, I can still recall a certain idiot screaming '_Deidara_ save meeeeeeee! _Deidara_ help meeeeeeee!', un."

"I-I wasn't _that_ pathetic!"

"Hmph. You would've been dead without the artistic gift of my explosive clay."

I let out an exasperated groan as Deidara blabbed on about the wonderfulness of his stupid clay toys and I slumped against one of the half blown up, red walls I had created.

Or rather dumped on the ground to prevent Deidara from killing the two ninja who had tried to kidnap me earlier. They hadn't even bothered to thank me, and they just took off like a bunch of crying babies.

After those two idiots had left, Deidara had landed on top of a hill that was part of the forest to take a rest.

I looked around the forest-- or what _used_ to be a forest—and found myself staring at the steamy smoke that was still wafting around the burning bushes, small craters, burning trees and other chaos that Deidara's explosive birds were responsible for.

The destructive artist himself was lying on the ground, his arms folded underneath his head, while he kept muttering things about beautiful explosions or whatever came up in his blond brain.

After a while of just standing there, for once without exchanging loud arguments with the overconfident bastard, I moved away from the wall and started walking away.

The villain instantly picked up the movement and got up swiftly. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"_Home_." I replied bluntly, not bothering to look at him.

"Oh really now? And where exactly would _that_ be? I though you were from some other world or whatever, un." Deidara pointed out matter-of-factly, trailing behind me lazily.

I stopped and turned around suddenly, nearly making him bump into him. "Like I told you, I live in Konoha right now because I don't know how to go back home! So will you stop reminding me of it?!"

He seemed to notice my frustration and homesickness, causing a smirk to overlap his previously bored expression. "Hmm. Someone's edgy."

"Don't mock me, or I'll break your skull or whatever with my now controllable jutsu." I snapped back threateningly, only resulting in a wave of arrogant laughter from the blonde as a reply.

"I'd like to see you try, un. You may know how to control that idiotic thing now, but your aim sucks and besides, I'm an S-rank criminal working for Akatsuki. You're nowhere _near_ my level, so what could you possibly do?"

Having that said he cocked his head to side in a belittling manner, smirking down at me.

I gritted my teeth, glaring at him. "I'm leaving."

"Where to?" Deidara called after me tauntingly when I turned around and resumed walking.

"Konoha, OBVIOUSLY." I snapped back over my shoulder.

"And where might _that_ be, un?" He asked again, this time in a more amused tone.

"That's…It's…"

_I have no idea where…_I thought, looking around aimlessly. Everything looked the same in the forest, there'd be no way I'd find my way back easily.

Reluctantly I turned back around, finding a grinning Deidara waiting for me. "That's what I thought too, un."

"What do you want." I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Hm?" He faked a puzzled look, but he knew perfectly well what I meant.

"What do you want in exchange for taking me back to Konoha?" I repeated irritably, moving back slightly when he advanced towards me.

He stopped merely inches away from my body, keeping his body straight so I was facing his black cloaked chest.

"Well, actually I have no intentions of letting you leave, un…"

"What?" I yelled angrily, stepping back. "I'm not staying with _you_!"

His posture and expression changed, he seemed somewhat more laid back as he started talking. "Ah come on, lets just get things straight here and hear me out for minute, yeah?"

_Don't listen to him! He's obviously up to something!_

"Fine, talk, but I doubt that you'll convince me to go with you." I muttered back doubtfully, despite what my mind was telling me.

"What's so bad about joining Akatsuki? You don't have to kill people if you're not fond of it, though your ability to know the future comes in quite handy for us…un." He grinned cheekily.

"Gee, joining an evil organisation that plans to take over the world really sounds like a girl's ultimate dream! …Like hell I will join." I answered sarcastically, sending him an incredulous look.

"Hn, what's so great about Konoha then?"

"Isn't that obvious? They don't force into some stupid 'evil' organisation or throw stupid clay at me—"

"My clay isn't **stupid**, yeah!"

"…Whatever, anyway they're kind to me and I feel safe there. Unlike with you." I concluded, snorting.

"Hmm…However they have bothered you with questions about the future too, right? And have they ever tried to help you get back home, hm?" He mused thoughtfully, tilting his head to side.

"They…haven't." He grinned slyly at my reaction.

_Stop! Stop listening to him!_

"We **would** be able to figure out a way to get you back home, un.."

_He's manipulating you!_

"We've got worldwide spies and recourses…It would only be a matter of minutes to obtain the necessary information…"

_But he's kind of right. Tsunade, Kakashi, Iruka…None of them ever tried to help me. All they wanted was for me to control my stupid jutsu so __**they**__ would be safe. So __**they**__ wouldn't be troubled. Akatsuki could help me, they're powerful._

"And all we would want in return, is a little info on the future, un…"

_Then what happened to 'If Naruto and Sakura can do it, then I can too'?!_

The last comment in my mind was enough to finalize my decision.

I shook myself out of my daze, stubbornly remembering myself that I'd told myself to be strong like Naruto and Sakura. "No! I'm not buying it!"

"No?" Deidara repeated after me, his sly grin sliding off.

"I'm never going to join your stupid organisation! Even if the people in Konoha won't figure out a way for me to get home, then I will!" I shouted back determinedly, stepping back.

"Hmph! If that's the case then I'll just take you by force!" He announced fiercely, moving forward and jumping on top of me.

"No, get off me! GET OFF!" I tossed and jerked around, trying to break free. We kept rolling around on the ground, trying to outdo the other while yelling loudly.

Because of that, we noticed too late that the ground was starting to feel less straight.

After all, we _were_ on a hill.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"What the- UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Deidara was the last to notice us rolling down the hill at a high speed because he was hovering on top of me, but in the end we were both desperate to find a rock or anything to cling on to stop rolling.

Grass and dirt flew around as I continued my rough rampage down the hill, my eyes catching glimpses of a small river beneath me. Somewhere close to me I could hear Deidara uttering a pained growl before I hit steady ground at the end of the hill.

"D-Deidara..?" I coughed, spitting out grass as I sat up weakly, feeling worn-out.

No angry shout or curse replied to me, which worried me. I lifted my head, seeing that I'd stopped rolling just beside the river. But no sign of the blonde criminal.

I got up from the ground, dusting myself off, relieved to see that I wasn't hurt too badly. I just had a few scratches and green grass stains on my black skirt and violet top.

_Now where is that blonde bastard? …Hey isn't that…his cloak? _

"What the hell?!" I gasped in shock when I saw a familiar black cloak floating in the river.

I rushed over to the river, not even hesitating as I jumped in and retrieved the unconscious artist back to shore.

"Deidara? _Deidara_? **DEIDARA?!**" I screamed at the lifeless blonde on the ground before me, taking him by his shoulders and shaking him wildly.

No response.

_Oh my God. What if he's dead?! He's not supposed to die yet!! AAAAAAAAAAAH!! I KILLED HIM AND I DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING!_

"You can't do this to me, you cocky bastard! You're supposed to LIVE!" I yelled at him desperately, still shaking him with a 'Warning: mentally disturbed idiot panicking!' sign hanging over me.

"DEIDARA I COMMAND YOU TO BREATHE!"

Still no response.

I wiped my face dry, still shivering terribly from the cold water. _Maybe…Maybe…I should try CPR…?_

I felt like some kind of weird pervert as I involuntarily hovered over the blonde's face with my own, hesitating to make a move. _It's only for once…Just once…so you can punch him when he wakes up._

I nodded to myself, swallowing hard before I took in a deep breath.

Then I moved down again, staring at the unconscious guy whose lips were getting closer and closer to mine. I suddenly noticed that he was quite attractive from up-close, despite the fact that he was a bit… half dead.

I lowered my lips to his, getting ready to do my 'thing' when all of a sudden the stupid bastard started coughing loudly and spit out the water that had been trapped in his lungs…

…Right into my face…

"EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW! GROSS!" I exclaimed in absolute horror, falling backwards with my hands covering my drool stained face.

"Ugh…Thank god I'm still alive…" Came Deidara's weak mumble, while I kept screaming as if my face was burning off.

"What the hell are you doing?" He demanded as soon as he noticed that I was trashing around insanely in front of him.

"You freaking spit on me, you son of a--AAAAAAAAAAH IT'S GETTING INTO MY EYES! THEY'RE BURNING! MY FACE IS MELTING!" I broke into a scream again, not making any sense to the blonde who didn't think very highly of me to begin with.

"…_Right_, un."

* * *

Reviews inspire me!

* * *


	17. Scene Seventeen

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. **

* * *

"HATCHOO!"

"…You know you're going to catch a cold like that, un."

"Yeah and whose fault is that? Just shut up and sit still. I don't want to hear it."

"Again with the temper, un. Don't tell me it's _that time of the month_."

"…I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

Deidara was leaning with his back against a young tree, not too far away from the river where I saved him. And to my great dismay, he was quite capable of annoying me like hell with his agitating remarks even though he nearly drowned.

Though that wasn't the only thing that nearly got him killed. He also had a pretty bad cut on his forehead from a sharp rock, which had apparently connected with his thick skull when he crashed in the water.

I shivered as I continued to bandage the wound on Deidara's forehead, stubbornly telling myself to ignore the cold as I concentrated on treating his injury.

_Why did he have to go and hit his big head on a rock? And why am I helping him again? Oh yeah…Mr. ExplosiveRetard wasn't supposed to die yet…Ah screw that. I should've just left him to drown!_

Thoughts filled with irritation were raging through my mind. I could feel tiny water droplets trickling down my arms and legs that kept me ticklish and shivering, adding more fuel to my bad mood.

And if that wasn't enough, I just **knew** that Deidara's eyes were glued onto my chest the entire time, considering that I had to hover above him to treat the cut on his head.

Someone up there must really hate me.

"Itai!" I just finished bandaging the wound when I suddenly heard Deidara utter a moan of pain and I moved back, startled.

"Ah gomen! Does it still hurt?" I asked concernedly, putting down the remaining bandages I had in my hands.

His right hand was covering the now bandaged cut, while his face was aimed down so I couldn't see his expression.

"No I'm fine. Just a bit worn-out still, un." He muttered back quietly, probably sounding less confident than he'd like to sound.

"Ah okay…Well I guess you should just take it easy for now. It's quite a big wound, so you shouldn't strain yourself." I suggested, giving him a small sympathetic smile when he looked up at me.

For a brief moment he seemed to be a bit wary, as if he didn't really know whether or not the sympathy I was offering him was genuine, until he spoke again.

"…Why did you stay?"

"Eh?" I raised my eyebrows at his sudden change of tone, sending him a confused look.

"You could've just left me in the river and you could've gone home, un. Yet you chose to stay with me. _Why_?" He formulated the question clearer for me, but kept his tone mistrustful.

I blinked, staring at him blankly.

When I didn't answer him immediately and the silence was threatening to grow awkward, he jerked his head up and awoke me from my momentary daze with the all too familiar impatient question:

"WELL?!"

"Whoa! There's no need to suddenly yell at me like that!" I gasped in shock, his loud voice nearly causing me to jump up.

He answered me with a look that I'd rather not receive from men that take pleasure in killing people, so I wisely decided not to arouse his anger any further with any more dumb comments.

"Well…Uhm…Isn't it obvious?" Nevertheless, a dumb comment did escape my mouth.

"_Obvious_?" Deidara repeated after me, sending me an incredulous look that told me that saving him was anything but obvious. Obviously.

"Just hear me out okay? I know it's not obvious for you to _not_ leave an enemy to alone die, but I wasn't raised like that. I don't do stuff like that no matter how much I hate someone's guts." I finally retorted sternly.

He raised a blond eyebrow at me, looking slightly amused.

"Un…So basically you're saying that you hate my guts, but because the people in your world are peace-loving-morons, you saved me anyway?"

"Exactly!" I smiled brightly, relieved that he understood.

…

Wait that didn't sound right.

"I mean, **no**! Don't call the people in my world morons!" I exclaimed when I realized what he was _really_ saying, my cheeks exploding in a horrifyingly cherry red colour.

All he did was grin at me in that provoking smug manner of his, apparently loving every second of my embarrassment.

I shot an annoyed look at him, fed up with the fact that he was still mocking me at every chance he got. Not to mention that he still owed me big time for saving his freaking life.

"It's getting dark…un." The blond murmured, looking up at the once blue sky that was now starting to display shades of warm red, orange and light purple.

I also looked up and stared at the bright red sun that began to set in the distance. "Yeah…"

But as I admired the colourful scenery, I didn't notice the mischievous villain that was slowly, but surely, advanced towards me…

* * *

Elsewhere, somewhere near the hidden Leaf village, a team of three ninja departed.

"Have you picked up her scent yet, dattebayo?!"

"Not yet, have a little patience! The trace is still a bit vague…"

The fifteen year old blond let out a grunt of frustration as he continued to follow the little brown dog, jumping over the trees in Konoha's forest alongside his pink haired teammate.

"Don't worry Naruto, I'm sure we'll track her down soon." His former sensei told him, offering him an encouraging smile.

"But I do hope we'll find her before dark…Considering that she's still low levelled, it's very dangerous for her to be alone out here." The single female interjected, sending them concerned looks.

"I wish Kakashi-sensei could've gone with us." The blond gritted his teeth when the memory of the stupid stubborn nurse, who'd kept insisting that the silver haired jounin would stay in bed for another day, entered his mind.

The pink haired kunoichi opened her mouth to say something to encourage him, but she was interrupted by another's voice before she could seize the opportunity.

"Picked up her scent!"

* * *

Meanwhile…

I gazed dreamily at the admirable scenery of the many warm colours that pasted themselves in the sky. I couldn't really remember the last time that I ever watched a sunset, but this one was quite breathtaking.

For a moment I felt like I was going to zone out, when I felt a warm hand grab my shoulder, making me gasp.

I turned my head to the side, connecting gazes with a grinning Deidara who'd moved away a little from his tree while I wasn't paying attention.

_I don't like the look on his face…Is he up to something…again?_

"…What?" I inquired suspiciously, keeping a close eye on him when he moved forward to sit down next to me.

"Hm? Oh nothing. Just thought I'd get a better view from this position, un." He smiled innocently, settling himself beside me, though a bit **too** close for my liking.

"Okay…" I mumbled back, watching as he made himself comfortable and placed his hands flat on the grass, supporting his weight with them.

I shifted to the right a little, trying to create more space between us, but he seemed to already know I'd respond like that and he simply mimicked the movement.

A small victorious grin caught my eye when I narrowed my sceptical emerald eyes at him.

"So…" He began thoughtfully, cocking his head to the side to fully face me again. I didn't say anything, silently giving him the cue to continue talking.

"About the future thing--"

"Oh God not again…You know I'm not going to tell you anything!"

"Ah come on! Not even a little, yeah?"

I rolled my eyes at the childish grin he flashed at me, bringing my knees up to my chin and wrapping my arms around them. I lowered my gaze from the sky to the ground.

"…Have you ever thought of what might go **wrong** if I'd just tell you everything?" I asked him seriously, staring down at the grass.

"Wrong?" He furrowed his eyebrows, apparently unfamiliar with the thought.

"Yes, wrong. You know, just because you'd know everything about the future, doesn't mean that you could change everything to your liking. Haven't you thought about that?" I continued slowly.

"I don't see how knowing what happens in the future will put me at a disadvantage, un." He answered thoughtfully, frowning.

"Hmm…" I mused, also pondering a bit about it. "But…For example, lets say that you'd want to defeat an army or something and you'd _know_ how they're going to attack you…"

"...Yeah? Still not seeing the disadvantage." The blond shrugged, looking bored.

"Just listen. If you know how they'll attack, you'll be able to prepare yourself for their strategy and find their weak points, right?"

"Un."

"But when you do that, it's likely that you'll only focus on the information you have from the future to defeat them. You'll forget that the opponent might have a back-up plan that you didn't know of and by the time that happens…"

"…The information from the future becomes useless, un." Deidara finished for me, catching up with my theory.

I nodded, glancing up at him.

"So you're not as stupid as you look after all." He smirked down at me playfully, earning a small glare from me.

"Says the guy who hadn't thought about it **at all**." I retorted, smiling slyly when my remark caused the villain's smirk to drop slightly.

"Touché." He acknowledged, averting his eyes elsewhere.

I rested my chin back on my bare knees, looking up at the sky again that was starting to grow darker with every passing second.

"What are we going to do now?" The question slipped out of my mind without giving it a second thought, redirecting the blond's head back to me.

"Good question, yeah." He stated, giving me a somewhat troubled look.

"You think you can let me go _now_?" I asked, hinting at the fact that my knowledge about the future wasn't so reliable as he thought.

He seemed to consider it for a moment, before a devilish smile curled up his lips.

"Nah I think I'll just blow you up, yeah!"

"WHAT?!" I yelled, backing away timidly.

He burst out in laughter at my horrified expression, nearly falling backwards.

"Hahaha! I was joking, you should've seen the look on your face!" He laughed uncontrollably, running a hand through his silky blond hairs.

"Well what did you expect?! You're a guy who works for an evil organisation for crying out loud! How the hell can I trust you?!" I pointed out angrily, sitting up straight.

"You can't." He confirmed grinningly, before turning serious again.

"I'm not planning on letting you go though, un. You could easily betray my whereabouts, so I don't see any other options aside from either taking you with me or _killing_ you." He explained, looking thoughtful.

"Have you been listening to what I've been saying at all?" I interrupted him incredulously, gaining a questioning look that made me sigh in annoyance.

I straightened myself, sitting up. "Okay, I understand that you've got your 'evil villain' obligations and stuff, but I really don't pose a threat."

He sent me a curious look, narrowing his blue eyes. "How so?"

"I'm trying to keep things going as they are supposed to go by not telling anyone anything about the future, right?" I began, pausing to wait for his reaction.

"Un." He nodded absentmindedly, looking like he was pondering about more things aside from what to do with me.

"So there is no way that I _could_ betray your location, because that would send a bunch of angry leaf ninja after you, which is **not** supposed to happen right now. Do you get what I mean?" I asked hopefully.

Another absentminded nod replied to my question, the blond's eyes were still glazed with thoughtfulness and consideration.

He remained that way for at least five minutes, which made me a bit anxious for his answer so I carefully brought him out of his thoughts. "Uhm…Deidara?"

"Yeah…" He murmured, staring at the ground. "I suppose I could let you go then, un..."

My face instantly beamed with relief and happiness and I nearly threw myself at him to hug him. "Thank you, thank you!!"

"But only because you prevented me from drowning, un! I just don't want to be indebted to you. If we meet again, I won't be as generous as I am now, got it?" He cut off my excited squeals warningly.

"Yeah, yeah whatever!" I waved my hand dismissively, too happy to take notice of the seriousness in his voice.

He rolled his eyes at my childish way of expressing my joy, probably wishing that he'd never been so generous as to spare my life.

"So when are we going? Don't you have to go clay one of those big birds now or something to fly me back to Konoha?" I finally got to the most important question that came up in my mind, smiling at the villain expectantly.

"No." He then replied bluntly, causing my eyes to widen disbelievingly.

"B-But you just said-!" I stuttered, thinking he was going to break his promise.

"No not like _that_! I meant that I'm not going to fly you back now. It's almost night and I don't know about you, but I'd rather get a wink of sleep right now, un." He explained yawningly, cutting me off before I could finish rambling.

"Oh…Yeah you're right, I guess." I agreed, also believing that the though of taking a long nice nap to recover sounded pretty good.

"But…Where are we going to sleep…?" I blurted out, not really finding the cold grass an ideal place to sleep comfortably.

He grinned evilly.

"I'm glad you asked that."

Pull.

"Uwaah! What are you doing?!"

My heart skipped at least one…no two beats when all of a sudden I got pulled into Deidara's chest and his arms locked around me firmly.

"Keeping me warm, un." Was his smug answer as he regarded me with an entertained twinkle in his mischievous blue eyes. He leaned back against his tree, automatically forcing me to lay on top of his chest.

"Do you honestly expect me to go to sleep like _this_?!" I demanded disbelievingly, still feeling my heart thundering around violently in my chest.

"Yes."

"No!" I protested, trying to wring myself out of his grip but he kept me in place with little effort.

And to make it even worse I could feel his warm breath stroking my cheek gently when he lowered his mouth to my ear.

"In case you had forgotten, we're both still soaked wet from our little dive in the river. This'll prevent both of us from catching a bad cold, un." He said in a much calmer tone than I was used to, probably to try and convince me more.

"…F-Fine. Just don't try anything!" I muttered in defeat, secretly feeling quite content with the warmth that was radiating off his body.

"Oh I wouldn't dare, un." He smirked, resting his chin on top of my head while his arms snaked around my waist.

I glared down at his hands, adding more fuel to his amusement.

"Don't worry, they don't bite…much."

"..."

* * *

Reviews inspire me.

* * *


	18. Scene Eighteen

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* * *

**

Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. Read and Review.

* * *

"Hmm…" I hummed contently in my sleep, smiling dreamily as I rubbed my cheek against the warm and soft fabric underneath my face.

_This has got to be the best pillow I've ever slept on in my entire life! I could sleep like this forever!_

I snuggled closer to the source of warmth that enveloped me, hoping that I'd never have to wake up.

"Hn, someone's enjoying herself…" Until an evil chuckle snapped me back into reality.

My eyes snapped open when I felt the fabric moving up and down rhythmically against my cheek and a familiar wave of arrogant laughter hit my ears at the same time.

"Ack! What's up with this _position_?!" I shot up, bewildered and shocked. Then I peered down and met eyes with an entertained looking Deidara who was lying in the grass on his back.

I felt a rush of embarrassment and disbelief coursing through my body when I also noticed that I was sitting in between the Akatsuki's members legs. **His legs** for crying out loud!

_What the hell?! I used him as a freaking bed?! …How did this happen?!_

"When did we shift position? …Oh God don't tell me…You did something to me?!" I exclaimed heatedly, jumping to the most horrifying conclusions that flooded my mind.

The blond merely stared at me, the mischievously amused look refusing to leave his face.

"Did _something_ to you, un?" He repeated dumbly, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

"Don't play dumb with me! You did something perverted to me, didn't you?! Have you been touching me in my private parts?!" I shouted at him carelessly, pausing to panic and check my body for any weird…stuff.

"Your private parts? Not that I remember, un…" The villain replied thoughtfully, his eyes glinting wolfishly as if the subject had given him some interesting ideas.

As soon as I noticed the sudden change in his expression, I stopped fussing over my body and glared at him warningly. "Don't get weird thoughts! Even if you didn't do anything, doesn't mean you are GOING to!"

"Ah not even a little, yeah?" He pouted at me, before that provoking grin of his broke through the innocent act.

I continued to shoot imaginary daggers at him, which only caused his grin to grow wider.

"Maa, I suppose I shouldn't be expecting anything from a _virgin_ like you anyway…un." He mused in that overly obvious mocking tone, sitting up straight.

"As if I would even want to do anything with you!" I snapped back defensively, regarding him with disgust in my expression.

"Maa, you _virgins_ always say that, but once you've gotten a taste of what it's like with me you'll be begging for it everyday, un." He went on smugly, smirking cockily.

"…Okay that's just gross." I answered flatly, getting slightly unnerved by the way he seemed so full of himself while talking about that subject.

He just shrugged uncaringly, apparently unfazed by my words, and then got up from the ground while straightening his black cloak.

My eyes travelled up to observe his movements and it was only then that I noticed that a refreshed light blue sky with fluffy white clouds was hanging above us.

"Hey, it's morning already." I stated, standing up straight with a smile.

"No way! Is that why the sky suddenly turned bright and blue?!" Deidara exclaimed dramatically, the sarcasm almost literally dripping from his words as he rolled his eyes.

I copied the movements of his pupils with my own, putting on an annoyed face. "You know, just because you're supposedly one of the 'invincible Akatsuki' doesn't mean you've got to be a jerk the entire time."

He chuckled at my remark, shaking his head a little to himself. "Isn't that the whole point of being a member, un?"

I made an annoyed sound in response, folding my arms over my chest. "It still wouldn't hurt to be a little more considerate sometimes."

He smiled thoughtfully, then his face returned to that rare serious look, before he sank his hands down into the pouches on either side of his waist.

"What are you doing?" I asked curiously, glancing down at his clenched fists when they slipped out from the pouches.

He grinned back slyly, raising his clay filled fists in the air and unclenching them slowly.

"Being considerate, un."

* * *

"What do you mean, you lost her scent?! You said you knew where she was, just a few minutes ago!" Naruto exclaimed angrily, shaking his fists at Pakkun.

Sakura sighed, both annoyance and tiredness readable in her features. They had been running all night, being led by Pakkun's nose. But after dawn arrived, the little dog had suddenly lost every trace of Miraiko's scent.

And it was getting on everyone's nerves.

"She must've done something to cut off the scent trail, like cross over a river or something." Pakkun argued with the blond, trying to reason with him.

"Why would she try to cut off the scent trail?!" The agitated fifteen year old retorted, assuming that the dog mean that she deliberately did it.

"Oi, oi Naruto. Calm down, don't jump to wrong conclusions. Pakkun didn't mean it like that, he just meant that _something_ has interfered with the trail of her scent." His former academy sensei, Iruka, interrupted quickly, not wanting to arouse the boy's anger any further.

"Gah I know, I _know_! This is just getting so frustrating! What if something bad happened to Miraiko-chan? I just want to find her!" The blond admitted stressfully, slamming his fist against a tree.

Iruka smiled apologetically, a bit surprised that his former student was so concerned about someone he barely knew personally.

"We all want to find her. It's just going to take some time." The adult reassured him, a relieved look forming on his face when Naruto seemed to be calming down by his words.

"Yeah…Lets get moving again!" The genin grinned, his confidence refreshed by the encouragement of his old teacher.

"That would be nice, yes, but where should we go? I can't easily pick up her scent from this point." Pakkun pointed out frankly, looking troubled.

All the men remained silent for a while, trying to think of a way to restart their quest.

"Uhm…Guys, I don't think we _have_ to pick up her scent anymore to find her …" The single kunoichi said suddenly, automatically causing three heads to jerk up to look at her.

The pink haired girl was staring up at the sky, a blank look on her face.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto raised his eyebrows in confusion, also looking up curiously.

His blue eyes instantly widened with shock.

* * *

"Wow! The view is great!"

"Un…"

"Now I know why you like birds so much!"

"Un…"

"Flying is awesome! Can we go higher? I want to see if I can see Konoha yet."

"Yeah whatever…Now will you stop shouting so much? You have an annoying resemblance to that loud bastard Tobi, un…"

"Ah sorry." I laughed a little, brushing a strand of my green hair out of my face.

Deidara ignored my apology and steered his bird up, making it fly higher in the sky. I smiled as I looked down, watching the tiny things on the ground far below us.

The blond didn't appear to be as fascinated with the view as I was, probably because he'd flown more times than he could count. But I found it quite amazing to be so high above the forest.

"Oi grasshead."

"What?" I turned my head back to Deidara, knowingly ignoring his lame insult because I knew he did it on purpose to annoy me.

"I'm dropping you off somewhere near Konoha's forest where you'll be able to find your way back on your own, un. It'll be easier for me to leave unnoticed then. Agreed?" The S-rank villain instructed, looking over his shoulder.

"Oh sure. That's oka--UWAAAH! WHAT THE HELL?!"

I let out a shrill scream of agony when all of a sudden a gigantic shuriken rushed past me, nearly cutting off half of my hair.

Deidara muttered a curse to himself and steered his bird to the left, circling around to take a look at the original whereabouts of the sharp weapon.

"Miraiko-chaaaaaaaaaaan!" A familiar loud voice yelled at me, urging me to look down.

"Na-Naruto?!" I shrieked in disbelief when my eyes noticed the spiky blond haired male who was jumping around wildly on the ground below me.

_What is he doing here?! Did he come back from his mission already?!_

"Miraiko-chan! Don't worry, we'll save you!" More voices began to yell up at me, making me gasp in horror when I saw that not only Naruto was there, but also Iruka-sensei, Sakura and even Pakkun.

_Talk about bad timing damnit! What am I supposed to do now?! _

"What are they talking about, 'saving me'?" I stared at Deidara blankly, who gawked at me as if I were blind.

"Well, let me see, un. I'm an Akatsuki member who has a history of kidnapping people and you're a helpless virgin who mysteriously disappeared out of their village…So what the hell do you expect them to think, yeah?!" He demanded loudly.

"Will you stop calling me a virgin already?!" I bit back in an exasperated tone, though I did understand what he meant.

I watched as he manoeuvred his bird further away from Naruto's team, making me raise my eyebrows in confusion. "Where are you going? Can't you just drop me off with them?"

"Oh yeah that's_ exactly_ what they expect a vicious killer to do. Just give you back without a fight and live happily ever after. _Brilliant_ plan." The bomb terrorist replied sarcastically, stopping his bird in mid-air.

"Well what are we supposed to do then?!" I whispered back heatedly, getting irritated by his rude way of correcting me.

"We improvise, un." And with that he stuffed his hands into his clay pouches.

* * *

Naruto angrily gazed at the blond bastard who was holding Miraiko captive on his bird.

So he was right after all! Something bad _had_ happened to Miraiko!

He clenched his fists tightly when he noticed that the Akatsuki member suddenly started yelling at his friend, causing more anger to build up in the boy's system.

"Watch out Sakura!" He heard Iruka shout, snapping him out of his thoughts.

The sensei barely managed to pull away the girl before a clay bird exploded on the ground, sending a wave of grass and dirt all over the place.

Naruto gritted his teeth, determined to take down Deidara.

* * *

"You moron! Why did you attack Sakura?! Have you listened at all to what I told you about BAD things happening when you change the future?!" I screamed into Deidara's ears furiously.

"Oi, oi I was just keeping it real, yeah. And besides I didn't mean to kill her. Perhaps blow up a few limbs though…" The villain smirked cockily, keeping another clay bird ready in his hand.

"Blowing up body parts is off limits too!" I hissed back angrily, glaring at him warningly.

He rolled his eyes at me, for a moment looking like he was going to defy my order, but luckily he made the bird fly into a random direction where it blew up without harming anyone.

"Happy now, yeah?" He commented dryly, seeming annoyed.

"Very--"

"OI BASTARD! GIVE BACK MIRAIKO-SAN!" Before I could finish speaking, Iruka's voice cut through the air like a bullet, making me blink surprisedly at his boldness.

_I've never seen him angry like that before! _I looked down, noticing the angry man who was demanding my retrieval.

"Hn. Possessive boyfriend much, un?" Deidara grinned at me amusedly, his grin growing wider when my face turned cherry red.

"H-He's not my boyfriend! Jeez, why do you people keep assuming that?!" I stuttered embarrassedly, covering my cheeks with my hands.

"Is that so? Hmm…" The blond tapped his chin, redirecting his eyes downwards thoughtfully.

Before Deidara could say another word, another stream of vicious curses from Iruka hit our ears, making me flinch. Deidara however, only seemed more amused.

"Oi, oi! Quit the shouting already, would you?!"

"Give back Miraiko then!"

"…Hmm I think I'd rather keep your precious _virgin_ for a while."

"You bastard! You did something to her, didn't you?!"

"Ah why would I do anything with a stupid _virgin_, un. I like more experienced women you know…Or do I?..."

"Did you hurt her?! I swear I'll kill you!"

"Oh I'd love to see you try, un. Let me just ask permission to kill you from the _virgin_--"

"STOP CALLING ME A VIRGIN DAMNIT! I'M **NOT** A VIRGIN!!"

"…"

"…"

Oh God no. Did I say that out loud?

_Actually you practically screamed it to the entire world. _My evil mind was kind enough to remark as time seemed to stop when no one spoke a word or moved a muscle.

I didn't dare to look at Deidara or Iruka, knowing that there was no doubt that both of them were quite dumbstruck by my unexpected…'announcement'.

"Uhm…" An uneasy looking Sakura mumbled quietly, staring at her stiffened team mates with no clue whatsoever of what to do.

The sound of Deidara clearing his throat involuntarily made me turn my head to him.

He was trying to keep a straight face but he did a horrible job at it, because he was obviously going to burst out in laughter any second now. "Interesting announcement you just made, un."

"Yeah well don't get any ideas." I snapped back defensively, not failing to notice the glint of thoughtfulness in his sky blue yes.

"Hmm…Pity." He smirked, before turning towards me. "I believe it's time to drop you off then."

"I thought you just said you couldn't drop me off with them!…How will you do it without harming your 'evil' reputation?" I asked sarcastically, scoffing.

An evil grin was my answer.

"Like this."

Push.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

_Use your jutsu! Use your jutsu! USE YOUR JUTSU!!_

My mind screamed at me urgently as I got pushed off of Deidara's bird without warningly, sending me hurling down towards the ground.

"Eh…Ah…IWA NO BOUFUU!" I hastily performed the hand seal, entwining my fingers.

The wind stopped rushing by me when something solid broke my fall in the middle of the air and I felt relieved that I could stop screaming. I looked up with annoyance, while balancing on the red boulder I'd summoned.

Somewhere above me, I could see a grinning Deidara staring back at me. He secretly winked at me before flying away and disappearing in the thick white clouds.

I couldn't help but to smile slightly.

"Miraiko-chan!"

…Until I remembered that now I'd been found, I had to come up with a good excuse for spending the last few days with a bomb terrorist…

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**Note:** Iwa no Boufuu means 'Boulder storm'.

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	19. Scene Nineteen

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. Reviews are appreciated.**

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"Miraiko-chan where have you been all this time, dattebayo?!"

"We were looking for you all over the place! I can't believe you were with an Akatsuki this entire time!"

"Do you know how much trouble and worry you caused?!"

"Yeah, you had us all really worried Mirai--"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!"

…I think a vein just popped in my head.

We were back in Konoha, at Tsunade's office.

The loud scream that I threw at my interrogators nearly sent them flying backwards with surprise, four pairs of eyes widening at the explosion of sound that broke out of my voice.

_There, much better. Now please shut up while I regain my sanity._

"M-Miraiko-chan…?" Naruto was the first to speak again, sending me quite a startled look because he hadn't expected me to react so furiously.

I took in a deep breath and sighed heavily, not very happy with all the shouts and accusations that just got tossed at my face. I stayed quiet as Sakura and Iruka sent each other questioning looks, as if they hoped that the other would be able to say something that would cool me off.

Tsunade remained silent, but she looked like she was holding back a snappy comment. Even Pakkun didn't dare to make one of his annoying comments.

"Uhm…Miraiko-san…Are you okay? We didn't mean to make you angry.." Sakura said, seeming to be the only one who could come up with a decent question.

"I'm fine…I just…I really don't feel like talking about this right now." I replied tiredly, placing a hand over my forehead.

That's when Tsunade unconsciously decided to ruin my mood even more.

"That may be so Miraiko-san, but we really need to know why you just spent the last two days with a member of the Akatsuki. Seeing as I still can't completely trust you--"

At the mentioning of 'I' and 'trust', I lost it.

"What the hell do I care if you trust me or not?! The only thing you people wanted me to do from the beginning is to make me control my stupid jutsu! You don't care a damn about what happens to me so why should I care about your _trust_?!" I exclaimed heatedly, panting.

I shot a quick glare at every individual in the room before continuing.

"And if you must know what happened so badly. First of all, there were two jerks, who thought my ability to know the future was going to help them, kidnapped me." I paused to catch my breath from talking fast.

"_Then_ I got kidnapped by Deidara's companion Toby who thought the same. _Then _I got found and nearly choked to death by Deidara who later on tried to lure me into joining his stupid evil organisation. But you wouldn't care about that, _right_? Because you all only care about what happens to yourselves." I finished, feeling more sarcastic than ever.

The Hokage blinked at me, perplexed.

Naruto and Sakura stared at me with wide eyes, both of them looking shocked by my words.

_Don't give me those looks. It's true isn't it? You know it's true! _My mind yelled at them angrily, matching the angered expression my face.

"Miraiko…We do care about you." Iruka finally said, earning a glare from me.

"Yeah right. The only things I've been hearing from you ever since I got here is 'Miraiko do this' 'Miraiko do that' 'Miraiko control your idiotic jutsu already'! I'm sick of hearing that. At least Deidara didn't do that all the time!" I snapped back carelessly.

When the villain's name flew past my lips, my sensei's look darkened. "…_Deidara_?"

"Yes. Deidara. You know, the stupid clay-addicted maniac who threw me off his bird earlier." I replied sarcastically, letting my feelings take control of my words.

"How could you compare him to us? He kidnapped you!" Iruka pointed out incredulously.

"Well at least he wasn't telling me to train twenty-four hours a day!" I hissed back angrily.

"We were only making you do that for your own benefit!" He disagreed, raising his voice.

"For _your_ own benefits, you mean." I retorted, catching a faint guilty look from the man.

The others in the room had only been watching us silently, even Tsunade, not daring to interfere with the vicious argument.

Silence entered the room like an uninvited guest, but no one spoke. I glanced around briefly, still under the influence of my angry thoughts that kept my blood boiling.

"I'm leaving."

When the dreaded words left my lips, everyone seemed to be snapped out of their daze and Iruka blocked my path. "You can't! We're not done talking yet."

I narrowed my eyes at him, raising the palm of my hand. "Well, I **am** done talking."

He flinched a bit, looking like he was preparing himself for the impact of my palm smacking against his cheek any moment now.

Too bad he didn't know that my _hand_ would never reach his face.

"ITAAAAAAAAI!! WHAT THE--?!"

"Goodbye."

The door shut behind me quietly as Iruka dropped to his knees on the floor, holding his bruised cheek in his hands.

A red boulder was still drifting in the air lightly, a faint dent on the side that had connected with Iruka's red cheek.

Everyone rushed forward to help the poor man who just got knocked over by the stone, except for Tsunade who was staring at the door with a disbelieving, yet amused look on her face.

"…Did Miraiko _control_ her jutsu just now?"

* * *

I'm an** idiot**.

What was I thinking? Telling them that I thought that they only cared about themselves?

They were the good guys. The nice guys. The _heroes_.

Yet there I went and voiced my stupid careless opinion that wasn't even based on my own feelings. If only Deidara hadn't told me that he thought that they only cared about what happened to them. That they were only using me.

It's all his fault for being a manipulative bastard I tell you!

_Though __you're__ the one who said it to them in the end._ The bothersome inner voice in my head pointed out sternly, making me groan in annoyance.

The truth sucked.

I let out a heavy sigh and I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to block out the emotions.

"MIRAIKO! WE'RE NOT DONE TALKING YET!" Fine. Screw that.

I turned around to the building I'd just departed from, my eyes guiding me to the annoyingly persistent owner of the familiar voice that I really _didn't_ want to hear right now.

Shielding the painfully throbbing bruise on his left cheek from my eyes, the stubborn sensei stomped over to me with a mad look in his eyes that matched mine.

"What do you want now? I thought the bruise I gave you made it pretty clear that I'm not talking to you anymore!" I snapped at him angrily.

Instead of answering me with a snappy comment, the man caught me off guard by grabbing me by my shoulders and forcing me backwards until I got slammed against a tree.

When I looked up to send him an incredulous look, I finally noticed that I'd misread the look in his eyes. He didn't look mad. He looked enraged, almost murderous.

_W-Wha-What's with that creepy stare? Isn't he supposed to be one of the rare __**sympathetic**__ funny guys around here?!_

I gulped at the scary dark eyes that leered at me, not daring to make a move. After a while the tight grip on my arms loosened and Iruka parted his lips to speak.

"First of all we're **not** done talking yet." He began in a baleful tone, indirectly warning me not to use that as an argument again.

I nodded obediently, feeling quite intimidated by this unfamiliar version of Iruka who'd always appeared like a caring person with an indestructible amount of patience to me.

"Second of all, it was completely unnecessary to just attack me with that boulder jutsu without warning! Do you know how much that hurt? And when the hell did you learn to control that anyway?!"

...Well even I can be wrong.

"W-Well you were all getting on my nerves and I didn't know how to get away from you otherwise! And it's none of your business how I learned to control my jutsu!" I huffed stubbornly, folding my arms over my chest protectively.

The grim look he sent me made me think twice before opening my mouth again.

"Why do you have to be such a brat?"

But unfortunately his insult sparked up my desire to yell at him like there was no tomorrow.

"You're calling _me_ a brat?! You people are the ones who've been acting like spoiled brats! Bossing me around and--"

"Oh please, don't even try to blame this on us. You know just as well as I do that we never intended to make you feel that way." He interrupted me, sending me a somewhat mocking look.

I pressed my lips together in a thin line, glaring at him. I knew that he was right, I knew. But I just couldn't stand the way he appeared to be patronizing me.

"Well then you should've given it more thought before you decided everything by yourselves without asking me anything. Just because I didn't know how to control my jutsu doesn't give you the right to do whatever you want as if I'm some sort of **toy**--"

"As I said: we never intended to do that!" He cut me off again, sending another jolt of anger through my body.

"Will you let me finish my damn sentences already?!" I snapped at him, releasing my arms to throw them in the air stressfully.

"There's no point in continuing this argument! I'm right and you're wrong and you know it!" Iruka snapped back at me, the tenseness of our fight starting to take it's toll from him as well.

I shook my head at him while laughing mockingly. "See? There's the bossing around again. I should've just stayed with **Deidara**! At least he--"

My words got cut off for a third time, however this time not by an unnerving remark from the man in front of me, but his fist slamming against the tree I was leaning against, barely a few inches away from connecting with my face.

…_This is getting a bit out of hand, don't you think? _A voice in my head commented stupidly as I glanced sideways to throw a quick look at Iruka's fist that had smashed into the tree.

"Never compare us to him ever again." Iruka's voice hissed at me, making me swallow hard.

I couldn't gather the courage to look at him as he went on. "How could you compare us to a filthy murderer like _him_? And even say that you'd rather stay with _him_? Do you honestly think that he would treat you _better_ than we would?!"

"…But I didn't mean it like that--"

"Do you think he cares more about you than I do?!"

My eyes widened and I forgot every word I was going to use to object.

_More than 'I' do…?_

"What..? More than I do..?" I asked slowly and raised my head to face him, not quite grasping his last statement.

His expression was still holding mixed emotions, but I couldn't detect the extreme anger in his dark eyes anymore. He pulled away his fist from the tree, dropping it by his side again.

"I meant 'more than _we_ do'. You had Naruto and Sakura worried sick about you too.." He muttered quietly, lowering his vision to remove his gaze from mine.

"Y-Yeah, I guess. Gomenasai…" I mumbled back apologetically, still feeling a bit puzzled.

Somehow the tense air had disappeared entirely and was replaced by a sudden calmness.

Something told me that I was supposed to be relieved that we'd stopped yelling at each other like two madmen, yet this abrupt calmness made me feel even more uneasy.

For a moment I felt the urge to laugh at the stupidness of the entire situation, I wanted to laugh at myself for being such a stubborn brat. But when I saw the look on Iruka's face I knew this wasn't the right time.

"I'll leave you alone now. You should go home and get yourself cleaned up."

"Eh?" I blinked, dumbfounded, as he turned on his heel and walked away.

A part of me wanted to yell at him to come back, but I didn't know what to say.

His figure eventually disappeared in the building where the stupid fight had started.

Finally when I moved away the tree I'd been nailed against the past few minutes, something wet hit me on the nose. Then another droplet of wetness splashed on my cheek.

It had started to rain.

A depressing downpour of heavy rain had decided to make it's entry as soon as Iruka left me to feel miserable and confused by myself.

I groaned in annoyance and glared at the water that streamed out of the grey clouds.

"This is so CLICHÉ!!"


	20. Scene Twenty

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. Reviews are appreciated.**

* * *

Rain.

It didn't stop, but I refused to escape from the cold. With my back pressing up against the same old tree while hugging my knees, I stared down at the ground.

Or at least my eyes were, but my mind was elsewhere.

To be honest, I'd never expected to feel or sound so depressed to myself.

Somehow ending up in 'Naruto's world' had been hectic and stressful. Not knowing how to get back home made me homesick. Being bossed around to control stupid ninja techniques that I spontaneously obtained was frustrating. And being dragged around by Deidara annoyed me greatly.

But depression?

I hadn't felt it up until now.

Some of the things that had happened to me so far were certainly not pleasant, but in the end I could laugh about it. I could deal with it. Because I knew that it was just the way how things went in this surreal world.

But this fight with Iruka and the others…It forced me to think and reconsider.

Up until now, I had never voiced these thoughts but deep down inside of me, I think I didn't take the things that took place here serious enough. I didn't take the people serious enough.

They were just anime characters, imaginary people, whom I'd always watched for my entertainment. They were just there, on TV and the Internet, for people to watch in their spare time whenever they felt like it.

They were made up by some Japanese guy who earned money through them.

They weren't _real_.

Was that why it was so easy for me to blame them for everything?

So easy to forget about their feelings and only care about my own?

But right now I was part of _their_ world, living their world.

Had I taken this world for granted? Because it was _just_ an anime world and none of this was real in _my _world?

In a way I had. And I'd hurt their feelings in the process.

"Idiot…"

I slammed the back of my head against the tree angrily, clenching my teeth when it triggered a surge pain to course down my body. A few weak leafs were knocked out of the tree top with the movement, swirling downwards in front of me.

They fell in a puddle of muddy rain water, the bright green colours mixing with dirty brown.

_You should go home…It's getting dark. You'll get sick. You've got enough problems already._

Normally I would've paid attention to the rare times when that annoying little voice in the back of my head would actually give some good advice, instead of pestering me for doing something idiotic.

But I was too scared that Pakkun or someone else would be waiting home for me, to bury me in a pile of unavoidable questions that I couldn't answer right now.

It was easier to just sit here with this old tree against my back and the rain falling on top of my head as my only company. I rested my forehead on my knees, letting my heavy thoughts wash over me with the cold water.

And eventually I fell asleep like that.

* * *

_Ugh…Why…Why now…__**WHY?!**_

"Why must you itch and torture me when I'm finally sleeping peacefully, you evil skirt…!"

I stopped yelling at the itchy piece of black clothing wrapped around my hips and…

I blinked at my surroundings.

Where was my tree? The rain? The mud? Where the heck was my depressing scenery?

"What the hell is this place?" I questioned myself out loud when my eyes travelled around the room where I had magically awoken in.

Though I wasn't very sure whether I had to be happy or worried that I wasn't outside in the cold anymore.

The room…it was large. And messy. _Very_ messy. There were clothes all over the place; hanging out of half open medium sized wooden closets, covering the floor and even on top the bed I was lying in.

How did I get in a bed anyway?

Tossing the question aside because of the sheer curiosity that occupied my mind, my eyes resumed their quest through the messy room.

Empty liquor bottles, probably sake, were standing on random places. Some Icha Icha Paradise and other perverted novels were piled up in a corner of the room.

Then my eyes found the walls.

"UWAAH! MY POOR EYES!"

Posters of women, naked women in positions that would give any man a spontaneous nosebleed, were plastered to the walls.

They surrounded me like bees, like a freaking **plague**.

_Where…Where the hell did I end up this time?! _My mind screamed at me while I desperately tried to avoid any contact with the rather disturbing pictures that outnumbered me.

This certainly couldn't be Kakashi's room. No. It couldn't be…

Could it…?

_NOOOOOOOOOO!! I've seen his room. Kakashi can't be THAT kind of a man! …I mean sure maybe he __could be into this kinda stuff but still…I mean no! …Uhm…Oh crap I don't know!_

While my heart started beating wildly in my chest, I pushed myself off the bed, accidentally knocking down a magazine that was lying on the bed.

It fell open on the floor.

"K…KYAAAAAAAHHH! EWW! GROSS!" I exclaimed in horror when my eyes involuntarily looked down at the revealed pages. While making gagging noises, I quickly raised my head and looked away to prevent myself from puking.

This place was beyond normal. What kind of a pervert could be living here?!

_Maybe you were rescued by a porn star? _

…

I have to get out of here. Now.

My feet manoeuvred through the load of clothes, sake bottles, adult magazines and whatever the heck was inside that perverted room. The door was my only goal, I needed to reach it before my poor mind would get assaulted with weird dirty stuff any further.

My hand, it was so close to the door handle, but before I could even grasp the damn thing--

SLAM!

"HOLY CRA--BWAAHMMMPH!"

"Miraiko-chan are you…Whoa!"

My head was sent flying backwards with the sudden force of the door slamming against me.

I lost control of all my limbs, allowing my arms and legs to leave the floor and sway up dramatically as if I were some kind of retarded chicken trying to fly.

Bright stars were circling me and the world was spinning and spinning and _spinni_-- Thunk.

I hit the floor like a rock.

"Miraiko! Oh my God, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?!"

And as if that weren't enough, someone started screaming my ears off like a madman.

"Ooow! It hurts! Go away, leave me alone!" I yelped back helplessly, flailing when the same person that started tugging at my arm.

"Ah gomen! Does your arm hurt? Let me help you--!"

"NO! You're the one hurting me, stop _yelling in my ears_!" I snapped back angrily, starting to get frustrated with this person.

Abruptly the tugging and the yelling stopped and my arm was released, causing it to drop on the wooden floor and make me wince in pain. I bit back a groan and sat up carefully, raising my head to look the person that just molested my ears.

My eyes bulged. It was…It was…

"Iruka?!"

In response to the stupid shriek of his name, the man with the high ponytail looked down at me with a slight hint of annoyance. "Yeah who else?"

"B-But you…You're…?" I stuttered with a blank face, unable to formulate a decent sentence.

"You know you didn't have to snap at me like that. I was only worried about you, you know. And I apologize for knocking you down." He lectured me, folding his arms over his chest.

I just stared at him with big eyes, only breaking the eye contact to blink once in a while.

He allowed it for a few seconds, before it eventually got on his nerves and he asked:

"Why…are you looking at me like that?"

"You're the pervert who lives here?"

"…"

"Well?"

"NO! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?!" He roared back at me fiercely, nearly making me think he was going to spit fire or something.

"O-Okay, okay! I'm sorry! But if you're not…then who is…?" I squeaked back weakly, quite intimidated by the amount of anger that he was capable of vocalizing.

"Yo! Iruka how is she doing now? Oh…You're awake already."

A cheerful voice interrupted me, drawing my attention back to the door opening.

Standing in the doorway stood a tall old man with long spiky white hair, wearing a familiar long moss green shirt with matching pants and a red vest hanging loosely over his shoulders.

_Him? No…It can't be…He's…Is that..?_

"**Ero-sennin?!**" I gasped, my eyes widening when I recognized him.

Almost instantly the old guy's cheerful face fell and was replaced by an offended snarl.

"_Ero-sennin_?! How did you-- Did Naruto go around and tell people nonsense again?!" He exclaimed heatedly, fuming with anger towards his blond apprentice.

"Not exactly…I've known your nickname for a while…" I muttered back quietly.

The older ninja ignored my reply, apparently consumed in his own thoughts, and continued to talk about how Naruto was disrespectful towards him and how his novels weren't just perverted books, but art and…

Then it hit me.

"You're the porn star who brought me here?" I blurted out, putting a halt to the perverted sannin's chattering who gawked at me with wide eyes.

Iruka gave me a look similar to that of Jiraiya, but he seemed a bit more amused about my stupid question than the older man.

"A por…? Wait…_WHAT_?!" Jiraiya demanded disbelievingly, looking like he wasn't sure whether he had to be flattered or insulted by my words.

"A no, no! I didn't mean to insult you or anything…I…Err…" I began weakly, not knowing how he was going to react to my rather bold statement.

Why did I always have to start spouting idiotic things at times like these?

"Yes he was the one who took you in, Miraiko. Jiraiya-san, please don't take her words seriously, this baka doesn't know what she's saying most of the time." Iruka suddenly intervened, making me frown.

_'This __**baka**__ doesn't know what she's saying most of the time'? WHAT?! How dare you--!_

"Hey! That's not--" I tried to argue, but Iruka shut me up with one those annoying stern 'teacher' looks that I had grown to hate so much. I swallowed back my words and glared at him instead.

Jiraiya seemed to notice the tense air between us and he cleared his throat.

"Am I missing something?"

"No." Iruka replied flatly, tearing his gaze from mine. "I only came to check up on her and she seems fine, so I should be leaving now."

_What? You think you can call me a moron for no reason and get away with it?! Get back here so I can kick your butt--!_

By the time my mind was finished threatening Iruka, the sensei had already left the house and was on his way to leave the area.

"OI! BAKA-SENSEI! GET BACK HERE!" I yelled after him angrily, jumping up and completely ignoring Jiraiya as I dashed out of the house to hunt down the jerk.

* * *

Images of Iruka on his knees while begging for mercy flashed through my mind as I sprinted after the back of my sensei who was heading towards the town.

Any reasonable thoughts like 'talking about it like grown-ups' and 'apologizing for being a brat' were non-existent right now. The only thing that drove me was the thought of kicking his butt for calling me an idiot and the rest would come later.

Sadly, it didn't work out that way.

Iruka's back was getting closer and closer. A hundred meters became fifty, then twenty, then ten. Until there was barely any distance between his shoulder and my hand reaching out for him before--

"STOP!" My arms shot forward, wrapping themselves around the man's chest, trying to prevent him from taking another step. I felt him jump lightly, perhaps because he hadn't expected me to catch him off guard like that.

Or perhaps it was because of the fact that my chest was pressed against his back tightly.

_Very_ tightly.

He appeared to be holding his breath, as if he was afraid that if he didn't, the movement of his chest rising and falling would allow him to feel my body pressing against his better.

In the mean time, every single way of beating Iruka to pulp that had claimed my mind was gone. The moment I grabbed him they'd just disappeared. And what a bad time they'd chosen to do so.

What was I supposed to do now?

_How does opening your mouth and not talking like an idiot sound?_

"Mi…Miraiko?" Iruka finally dared to speak, though he sounded hesitant.

_Come on! __**Talk**__, for crying out loud! You're the one who got yourself into this mess so you've got to get out of it by yourself too. _

"I'm sorry."

"Wha-- Oi, M-Miraiko!" I hugged him tighter, causing him to squirm in my grip.

"I never meant to hurt any of you but I screwed up. I never should've compared you or anyone to someone of Akatsuki. I'm sorry for not thinking more about your feelings. I'm sorry, I'm _sorry_…"

"Eh..?" He stopped moving, probably not believing what he just heard.

"I'm not lying! I'll never make this stupid mistake again! I'm sorry, I'm really sorry!" I went on, squeezing my eyes shut while the words escaped from my mouth.

"Oi Miraiko you--"

"Please believe me! I don't care what Tsunade thinks about me, I'm not a spy or anything. I'm just a _girl_. I'm just an idiot who can't shut up when she needs to, I hate losing arguments so I always yell stupid things but I never meant to _hurt_ any--"

Before I could finish the random confessions that wouldn't stop coming out, he freed himself from my arms and turned around, placing a hand on my back to push me into his chest.

"It's okay."

I blinked.

"I understand."

A tear rolled down my cheek.


	21. Scene Twenty One

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. Reviews are appreciated.**

* * *

"So please accept my honest apologies!" I swung my head down and bowed for the three people in front of me, remaining in that position for a few seconds until one of them spoke up hesitatingly.

"Ano Miraiko-chan…You didn't have to do this sort of a thing…" Naruto started, looking slightly taken aback, accompanied by an expression that displayed embarrassment.

"Yeah we did pressure you earlier. We should be the ones apologizing.." Sakura agreed, a somewhat guilty tone wavering through her voice.

I shook my head as I straightened my body to face them. "No, I shouldn't have yelled at any of you the way I did…I'm the one who overreacted. So please don't blame yourself."

They both still seemed a little uneasy about it, but they nodded anyway, adding a small smile to their features. I smiled back appreciatively, before turning my attention to the only adult in the room, who was following the conversation thoughtfully.

"So you're willing to give me a proper explanation about what happened between you and the Akatsuki now? And you'll accept any consequences?" She inquired straightforwardly once her hazel eyes locked with my emerald green ones.

_Consequences..?_

"Yes." I responded promptly, not giving myself a chance to worry about the unpleasant punishment she could have in store for me.

I was determined to handle things differently from now on.

_More mature. I have to be mature. _I reminded myself sternly, reflecting on how careless I'd treated them yesterday. I didn't want it to happen again. I didn't want my pride or stubbornness to get in the way this time.

The blonde female's expression remained neutral, making it hard for me to get an idea of what she was thinking about. "Very well then, Naruto, Sakura, you may leave. I'll need to hear out Miraiko-san's story now. Privately."

"Ah but Tsunade baa-chan--" Naruto began, but his attempt to protest was cut off when he got struck by a warning gaze from the Hokage.

With a grumpy look on his face he accepted her authority over him and moved towards the door with the pink haired girl following him closely. The kunoichi turned her head over her shoulder briefly to offer me a reassuring smile.

"We'll see you later then, okay Miraiko-san?"

I nodded faintly, watching as she closed the door behind her until Tsunade cleared her throat, guiding my eyes back to focus on her.

"Lets begin."

* * *

_I wonder…What could my punishment possibly be? _Curiosity occupied my mind as I walked past the villagers who were scattered over Konoha's local market.

It'd been about ten minutes since Tsunade dismissed me after hearing out my story. She appeared to understand what had happened, though she still felt the need to give me a suitable punishment for behaving reckless and disrespectful towards her.

Apparently I would find this 'punishment' somewhere near a large tree that stood at the end of the busy market. While heading towards my destination, I could already see the tall tree sticking out in the distance, but I couldn't detect any potential threats or things that should worry me.

My curiosity was starting to turn into anxiety.

I mean…what if the tree wasn't an actual _tree_? What if it was just someone in _disguise_ as a tree? What if she sent out a creepy ninja after me to scare me and lecture me to death?

…What if there was no punishment at all? Would she make me wait there all day and make me starve until I--

_Whoa. Paranoid much? Calm down, it can't be THAT bad. _

"Right. I'll be fine…just fine…Yeah right." I muttered to myself, not feeling very confident at all as I continued to decrease the distance between me and the object of my worry.

By the time I finally stood next to the tree, my nerves still hadn't calmed down and my eyes kept moving back and forth between the people that walked past me. No creepy ninja stepped up to me; everyone was minding their own business.

Which left me feeling confused. The tree had to be some sort of place to meet up with someone right? So why was no one showing up to lecture me?

Unless…

"Ara…Miraiko-san?"

"Huh?" I spun around swiftly when a familiar voice uttered my name, a look of surprise appearing on my blank face. Curious, dark eyes locked with my emerald ones that held the same emotion.

"Iruka-sensei?" His name left my lips as I took in his form, noticing that he had a thick stack of papers tucked underneath his left arm.

"What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be with Tsunade-sama right now?" He asked while adjusting the weight of the package he carried, so it was resting against his moss green vest.

"Yeah, I just left…" I replied softly, running a hand through my grass green hair to flip it over my shoulder. I noticed his eyes following the smooth movement before he returned his gaze to my face.

"Ah I see. Uhm…So how did it go?" He continued talking, sounding genuinely curious.

"Oh it went okay. I think she was a bit irritated and she was quite _generous_ with her snappy comments, but in the end she seemed to understand what I went through." I explained with a sigh, knowing the relief on my face was overly obvious.

He smiled softly, nodding. "That's good. For a moment I was a bit worried that her temper would get the better of her…But I'm happy things turned out good for you."

"Thanks…" I smiled back appreciatively, meeting eyes with him.

His smile wavered slightly and he broke the eye contact, turning his eyes into a random direction with a somewhat nervous air to him. I blinked at him, tilting my head to the left lightly.

_What is wrong with hi- Oh! Of course…How could I forget?_

I lowered my gaze to the sandy ground, smiling awkwardly.

Iruka…Of course he still had to be feeling a bit weird around me. I mean, he _was_ the first one whom I'd (stupidly screamed) honestly confessed my true feelings to. Not to mention that I (pressed my freaking chest against) hugged him while doing it…

…He was probably just a bit shy. I think.

"So…What are the papers for?" I questioned, trying to start a random conversation to retrieve a normal atmosphere.

He glanced down at the stack pressed against his vest, uttering an 'oh' as he raised the pile of white sheets up in the air. "These are some recent reports and files about the Akatsuki…I'm supposed to bring them to Tsunade-sama."

"Oh. Okay." I stared at them for a few seconds.

"Ne…Miraiko…" Iruka suddenly began, regaining my attention. His expression was unreadable to me, but I had a slight hunch about his thoughts.

"Could you tell--"

"I can't tell you anything about them." I said sternly, not allowing him to finish his sentence.

He raised his eyebrows at me, seemingly caught off guard. I sent him a knowing look.

"Come on Iruka, you know I can't tell you anything about the Akatsuki. I already--"

"No, no. I wasn't going to ask you to give me information about them! I was…" He quickly stopped me from lecturing me, this time turning me in the one who was caught off guard.

"Eh?" I blinked at him blankly.

"I was…erm…going to ask you…doyouwanttohaveramenwithmesometime."

"…What? I didn't quite catch that." I asked slowly, not understanding one bit of what just rattled out of his mouth.

His face gained a colour that strangely reminded me of strawberries burning in the sun, before he cleared his throat and shot me a sideway look. "Do you…want to have ramen with me sometime?"

Absolute horror was written all over my face.

_Ra-RAMEN?! _

"Uhm…" I looked away, to the ground, pretending to be fascinated with the grey rocks that were scattered over the sandy road.

_Say no. Say hell no. Heck whatever you say, just __**DON'T**__ say yes!_

"Uh…"

_Chopsticks and you don't mix, remember?! CHOPSTICKS ARE __THE ENEMY__!_

"Well…"

_Unless you want __**him**__ to feed __you. _

"No…I'm sorry, I can't…I have stuff to do. Yeah…stuff." I lied awkwardly, not wanting to embarrass myself by telling him that I couldn't hold those damn sticks properly.

"Oh…I see." He replied softly, but I could hear the disappointment in his voice loud and clear.

"Uhm, but maybe you can come by my house sometime. I can cook some dinner if you like." I offered quickly, guilt stabbing me in the back.

A faint smile reappeared on his face, but it wasn't quite the usual genuine one that I'd gotten used to. "Sure. That's sounds good. But I have to go now."

"Ah bye." I waved him goodbye, smiling weakly as he turned his back to me and began to walk towards the hokage's office.

_This is the right thing to do. This'll save us both a lot of embarrassment and awkwardness…And I can invite __him over for dinner whenever I feel like it anyway…right..? _

That's what my mind told me, but still I kept pondering about the question _'if this is right, then why do I feel like a selfish brat right now?_'

I sighed and moved towards the tree, turning around to lean against it. It seemed like I would be waiting a while for my 'punishment' to come, so I might as well get comfortable--

"Well that was interesting…" I jumped up in surprise when all of a sudden a muffled voice chuckled at me.

I jerked my head to the right, then to the left, but there was no one there.

Then I gawked at the tree, which was my only company.

_Holy crap! THE TREE JUST SPOKE TO ME!_

"Uhm…Hello?" I replied hesitatingly, a bit freaked out as I started to back away slowly from the tall brown tree before me where the voice came from.

My eyes travelled up, narrowing when they caught a glimpse of a little green book that had the words 'Icha Icha Tactics' stamped on the cover in thick yellow letters.

_Wait a sec. Trees don't read perverted books! …Oh God. It can't be…HIM?!_

"KAKASHI?!"

Horrible realization bitch-slapped me right in the face when I noticed the familiar grey haired man sitting high in the tree, lounging there comfortably as if he owned it.

"Yo." He acknowledged lazily with a small wave of the hand, before dropping it back in his lap again. It didn't surprise me that he didn't even take the time to look at me, because his eyes were glued to the perverted novel in his hand.

"Don't 'yo' me! What are you doing here? Were you eavesdropping on us?!" I demanded irritably, followed by a sharp gasp when my mind caught up with everything that just happened.

"Are **YOU** my punishment?!"

At the sound of my horrified scream the man looked up from his book to cast down a frown upon me. "Punishment? What are you talking about? I only recently got out of the hospital and you already find my presence disturbing enough to call it a punishment…?"

_Heck yes!_

"No not like that! I meant: are you the one who was assigned to lecture me or whatever for Tsunade-sama?" I interjected quickly, looking up anxiously.

_Please say no. Please say you just happened to be reading porn here shamelessly like the perverted old man you are and know nothing about my--_

"Oh that. Yes, now I remember."

…

Seriously. Someone up there must really hate me.

I was about to blurt out another stupid comment when the jounin leapt out of the tree and landed in front of me effortlessly, not once taking his eye off his book.

"I heard about your little sleepover with the enemy from Tsunade-sama." He stated tonelessly, though I could sense some disapproval hanging in the air.

I narrowed my eyes at him in annoyance. "It wasn't a sleepover, I got **kidnapped**."

He only made a 'hn' noise without bothering to answer me with a full sentence, intensifying the irritation that was bubbling up inside of me. "Don't tell me you _still_ think I'm some sort of weird spy! Haven't I already told--"

"I said no such thing." He drawled lazily, cutting me off. I raised an eyebrow at him when he glanced up at me briefly, letting him know that I had a different opinion.

"You don't have to say it anymore. You're always looking at me in _that way_."

"What way?"

"That disapproving, distrustful, annoying way."

"Do I really..?"

"Yes! You always do that whenever I'm around you!"

"Hn. Hold on a sec, I'm getting to a good part…"

It took a lot of effort for me not to drop my jaw at him when he waved his hand at me in a 'shoo go away' sort of way and returned his gaze to his book. I stared at him incredulously.

Sure, I knew he wasn't exactly fond of being around me for obvious reasons, but I was trying to have a serious conversation here. And he found his stupid _porn_ more important?!

Acting on impulse my hand shot out to smack his book out of his hands. His reflexes were much faster than mine though and he moved out of my reach just in time before the impact took place. However I did manage to get a hold of his attention now.

"What do you think you're doing--"

"_Why_?" I snapped at him, not giving him the chance to question my aggressive behaviour.

Judging by the blank look on his face that answered my question, he did not understand where that question came from. He probably hadn't even been listening to what I'd been saying to him just now. I made an 'ugh' noise, followed by a frustrated sigh.

"Why do you keep treating me like I'm a criminal?" I asked, deciding to be more straightforward with this easily distracted-by-porn man.

"Does my opinion really matter?" He replied with a light shrug, sending me an impassive look.

"Of course it matters! You're the one who's supposed to supervise me and--"

"--And that's exactly what I'm doing. I did not sign up to do this to become friends with you, I'm merely making sure that you don't start trouble while you're here. Engaging in a discussion about whether or not I like you is not part of the job." He interjected, looking completely unbothered by the stunned look on my face.

…_Well that was blunt. _The words rang in my mind, but I didn't say them out loud. I just blinked at his boldness; the way the words had rolled out of his mouth so easily almost seemed cruel.

In my momentarily speechless state, I could only nod and put up with the effect his words had on me. I didn't catch the look on his face when he spoke again, but by the tone of his voice I could hear that he was trying to lighten up the mood.

"Anyway, you'll probably be relieved to hear that Tsunade-sama decided to give you a minor punishment, in the form of helping a ninja who's currently not on duty much."

"Who?" I asked curiously, forcing myself to go along with the more tolerable, pleasant, atmosphere he was trying to create.

His eyes darted up, away from mine, to settle with a view of something behind me. Through the black material of his mask I noticed a faint curling of his lips. "Ah, looks like she's already here."

_She?_

I raised my eyebrows with the curiosity that took over my actions, turning around to see who he was looking at. The small image of a woman with midnight black hair and a somewhat round stomach came into my vision.

She appeared to be wearing a white dress made out of bandages with red sleeves, and some more bandages wrapped around her arms and legs.

She was walking towards us, carrying a couple of light beige bags that dangled down lightly from her slender arms.

In my mind I tried to remember her form, comparing her to images of female ninja that I'd seen in episodes of this anime world I was stuck in. It finally clicked when I caught sight of the flashy scarlet eyes on her face.

"Kurenai?"


	22. Scene Twenty Two

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. Reviews are appreciated.**

* * *

Have you ever felt the urge to punch someone? Break a bone or two? _Three_? **Ten**?

I certainly have.

You know there was this one time in third grade when this snobby girl named Natalie Coleman sunk her little claws into the leading role of our school play.

_I_ wanted to play the evil snow queen with the army of snowmen who got to freeze every annoying brat in our class, damnit!

Oh and there was this one time when Jeffrey Backer yanked my favourite Barbie's head off--

_Cough. Enough digging in the past, get to the point already._

Fine. Today it was not one of my childhood enemies that deserved my blessing of eternal hate.

No, it was in fact someone whom I've admired for a long time. If not obsessed over like a hopeless (stalker) fangirl whose main goal in life is to find a way to tie her obsession up to her bed and do…stuff to him.

…

Okay, I'm seriously starting to creep myself out by admitting this to you.

Being homesick must've mysteriously led me to take up weird habits from my Shikamaru-(obsessed)-loving sister. She's quite talkative about her 'hobbies' if you're unlucky enough to befriend her.

"Sorano-san when you're done in the hall, could you help me in the kitchen?" Kurenai's voice called to me, pulling me back to reality.

"Yeah sure." I answered, spinning around ungracefully with the mop I held in my hands.

My gaze landed on the open window as I did so, my eyes locating the person who'd been plaguing my vengeful thoughts just now. My left eye twitched in annoyance as said person made himself comfortable against the trunk of a tree, a cup of tea right beside his leg and a green novel resting in his lap.

Yes. The one who'd earned my baptism of loath was no one other than…

"Kakashi-san! Would you like some more tea?"

I tightened my grip on the wooden stick in my hands, glaring at the jounin who was offered more tea by Kurenai. Why did he get tea anyway? He wasn't even the one working, he was just sitting there and--

"Miraiko-san don't slack off." And bossing me around to tell me to work harder.

_What does he think he is? An evil magistrate?! _I grumbled sourly as I swung my mop around on the wooden floor and resumed cleaning the hallway.

And in case you're wondering, **yes**, this IS the 'punishment' that had me cowering in fear earlier, because I thought Tsunade had something far worse in store for me. Apparently she had assigned this job to me because Kurenai wasn't on duty much due to her pregnancy.

So basically I just had to help her with chores in the house, which wasn't that bad.

"I think you missed a spot."

…Although having Kakashi around to criticize my skills as a maid isn't doing my mood any good. How does he even know that I skipped a part when he's sitting OUTSIDE?

_It's that creepy sharingan I tell you. He must be using it to perform some weird 'zoom in on Miraiko to spy on her and annoy her' jutsu...or something like that._

I threw another glare at my ever so annoyingly watchful supervisor before I finished up cleaning the hallway so I could help Kurenai in the kitchen.

"My, my, you're quite good at this aren't you?" Kurenai's scarlet orbs observed me with visible amazement as I cooked the meal she'd asked me to make, while she was washing the dishes at the sink.

"Yeah, I might suck as a ninja but I'm awesome at cooking." I boasted, grinning proudly. I was making yaki-nuki (baked pork marinated in soy sauce) and cooking some rice to go with it.

She smiled back, a hint of amused interest evident in her expression. "Kakashi-san must feel very lucky to have you around him if you're this good at cooking."

"I'm not cooking for that guy. He can make his own food, I'm not his maid." I snorted haughtily, not exactly in the right mood to picture myself slaving in the kitchen for Kakashi to make him a meal.

Or at least not a _good_ one.

"Is that so?" Kurenai mused softly, not sounding entirely convinced.

I raised a curious eyebrow at her, turning my head a little to face her. "What's up with that tone?"

"Maa na…You were staring at him quite intently when you were busy in the hallway so I assumed that you were on good terms with him." She clarified, trying to keep a straight face but the amusement in her voice betrayed her.

I gawked at her. "Staring at him intently..?"

She smiled.

"You think I have a crush on him or something?"

Again that smile. What's up with people and their unnerving _smiles_?

"I'm not in love with Kakashi. He's like twice my age and he's a jerk." I retorted in a monotone voice, refraining from bursting out in loud embarrassing anger like I would've usually done.

Kurenai frowned at my reasoning, pausing her movements for a moment. "What's wrong then?"

I also stopped, narrowing my eyes and furrowing my eyebrows. "He looks at me as if I'm some kind of weirdo who needs to be watched every second and he won't explain why. He insists on acting like a cold bastard, because apparently becoming my friend isn't part of his _job_."

A sigh slipped past my lips. "It's hard to deal with someone like that."

"Maa na…Kakashi has never been too fond of strangers and with your past…" Kurenai trailed off silently, but the words she left unspoken were pretty obvious.

_'He won't accept you __that easily.' _

"I know, but it's just hard." I muttered quietly, peering down to check up on the yaki-nuki.

We stayed silent for a while, keeping ourselves busy with our chores until the raven haired woman raised her head again, looking like an idea just struck her. "However…"

"Hm?" I glanced up at her expectantly.

"You could try to make him understand you better. You just have to put some more effort in it with someone as stubborn as him." She encouraged, lifting one of the wet soapy dishes out of the sink to dry it.

"Yeah but _how_?" I wondered out loud, releasing another exasperated sigh.

"That-" She smiled. "- is something you have to find out by yourself."

* * *

Flip.

Stare.

Flip.

Stare.

Flip.

_Sta__re_--

"Is there something you need, Miraiko-san?" The apathetic jounin finally asked me when my continuous staring became too annoying to ignore.

"...Well, Kurenai said I did enough for today so she told me to go home." I explained as he flipped over another page of his book and lazy eyes traced the new page.

He made some kind of 'hm' noise in acknowledgement before he pushed himself away from the tree he was leaning against, and he began to walk away. I rolled my eyes, knowing that he expected me to follow him like an obedient puppy and reluctantly, I did.

I folded my arms over my chest as I walked after him, knotting my eyebrows together while I shot imaginary daggers at his back.

Stubborn distrustful jounin or not, did he really have to treat me like this? Would it kill him to pretend to be a gentleman and politely ask 'shall we go then?' instead of just walking away nonchalantly?

_Yes, because he's a porn-loving sadist. God, he even used to be your favourite character. You have__ really bad taste in men you know._

I grimaced at my own thoughts. It was very true that Kakashi used to be my favourite character, because I'd always thought his annoying traits like always being late and shamelessly reading porn were funny.

But that was _before_ I had to deal with him personally.

Because right now he just seemed plain annoying.

_There's no way I'll ever get through that thick skull of his…Kurenai you overestimate my patience…_I thought glumly, remembering the advice the older kunoichi had given me.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" A young male bellowed suddenly, gaining my attention.

There was only one boy I knew that could scream so loud without damaging his vocal cords--

"Ah Naruto." The jounin lowered his book from his face to smile slightly at the loud blonde who'd jumped in front of him to block his path in the mean time.

I glowered at Kakashi when I noticed that he lowered his book for Naruto to look at him properly, while he wouldn't have if it had been me standing in front of him.

"Kakashi-sensei did you forget about my training?! We were supposed to meet at the training grounds an hour ago!" The genin pointed at him accusingly, looking annoyed.

I snorted as the grey-haired man made up some excuse about helping a pregnant lady who made him lose track of time.

_Hey! __It was __**me**__ who helped out a pregnant lady--!_

"Ah Miraiko-chan you're here too?" Naruto inquired, looking over Kakashi's shoulder to see me standing behind his back.

"Yeah, _I_ was helping a pregnant lady while _he_ was lazing around. We just came back." I answered, a faint victorious smirk curling my lips up when I received a frowning look from my supervisor.

"AHA! So you were lying!" The blonde turned to the grey again, a slightly pained look appearing on the older male's face.

"Hai, hai…Maa na lets go to--"

Growl.

An awkward silence loomed over us and both men paused to glance at the source of the sound of unsatisfied hunger. Which would be me.

"Miraiko-chan, don't you have any manners?" Naruto teased grinningly as the colour on my face intensified into a deep red and I shielded my noisy stomach with my hands.

"Shut up, I didn't have the chance to eat much today." I growled back in attempt to hide my embarrassment, though judging by the unwavering grin on the boy's face I failed miserably.

Kakashi let out a soft sigh, sounding troubled. "Lets go to Ichiraku first then, is that okay with you Naruto?"

"Of course not! I'm pretty hungry myself too, you know." Naruto's grin grew noticeably wider when the thought of ramen entered his mind. And the drool running down his chin made his thoughts quite clear too.

The drool stained boy and his sensei turned to move forward again and I followed after them shortly. Too late did I figure out the horrible mistake I'd made by not objecting to going to Ichiraku.

* * *

Chopsticks.

I knew they were laughing at me somehow, I just knew it.

"Itadakimasu!" Naruto sang out cheerfully, skilfully dipping his two wooden utensils into his portion of ramen.

I swallowed hard as I stared down at my untouched bowl of food, then glanced to my left to see Kakashi casually reading his book and then glanced to my right to see Naruto who was ravaging his own bowl of ramen.

If hell really existed, then this was a good example of it.

_I'm really starting to dislike you, you know. When you heard the word 'Ichiraku' alarm bells should've been going off in your mind damnit! Why must you be such an idiot? I thought you were going to be more mature from now on? You know, mature as in __**smart**__._

My voice of reasoning taunted me mercilessly as I continued to stare down at the nemesis I'd been condemned to.

"Aren't you going to eat?" A drop of sweat rolled down the side of my face when I heard Kakashi's voice. The dark eye that wasn't covered by his forehead-protector was watching me expectantly, curiously.

"Eh…Suddenly I don't feel so hungry anymore. Haha…ha." I laughed nervously, receiving an odd look from the jounin.

_Heck I'd rather look like an hungry idiot than admit that I'm an hungry idiot who can't use chopsticks. ..Okay that just sounds stupid…God why am I such a moron?_

Just when he was about to return his gaze to his book, my stomach growled again.

In my mind I cursed my body for betraying. Then I unintentionally met eyes with Kakashi who sent me a sceptical look. "Are you sure you're not hungry?"

"Positive."

"Hm…" His gaze sharpened, making me wish I could disappear.

Then the moment I'd been dreading kicked me in the groin.

"Ah Miraiko-chan, you still can't use your chopsticks? Want me to feed you again?" Naruto, being the non-suspecting helpful moron he was, spoke up.

_God, if you're really there then please shoot me. Shoot me now!_

I held my breath, unable to speak and too afraid to look at Kakashi to see his reaction.

"Uhm…No thanks." Was all I could manage to say after a long pause.

"Oh okay, I'm going to get another bowl." And with that the blonde walked off, leaving me alone with my painfully silent supervisor.

And to make it even worse my stomach started growling again. I wrapped my arms around my waist, trying to strangle the sound. Then I saw two gloved hands moving towards my bowl and chopsticks.

"Say 'ah'." My eyes widened disbelievingly as my mind registered Kakashi's order and I stared at the chopsticks he held out with hot steamy ramen dangling from it.

I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. "_What_?"

"It's when you open your mouth wide and utter the letter 'a' so I can put food in your mouth--"

"I know what you meant! B-But I'm not letting you _feed_ me!" I protested weakly, very aware of the building amusement twinkling in his dark eyes.

The jounin answered me with a gleeful smile. "It's either that or starve..."

"…"

* * *

Meanwhile somewhere on the road to Ichiraku…

Iruka sighed, his mind still refused to stop taunting him with memories of Sorano Miraiko.

He had denied it for some time, but it was starting to become more and more obvious that he'd fallen for the strange girl. How she'd caught his eye, he still didn't understand. He didn't even know that much about her, but he couldn't deny his feelings.

But why did he have to fall for _her_?

She was only seventeen, (nearing eighteen) and he was almost twenty-nine…

She was immature, clumsy, bad-tempered and a slow learner who tended to give up easily.

She didn't resemble the image of his perfect woman at all. But still there was just something about her that attracted him to her.

The saying 'opposites attract' rang out in his mind, making him smile slightly and shake his head to himself. There was no way she--

"You did that on purpose didn't you?! God this was my best shirt too! Do you know how much this thing cost me?!"

"Well actually you used my money to buy it…"

Iruka raised his eyebrows when he heard two very familiar voices arguing with each other and when he turned around the corner of a building, he found the persons they belonged to.

On one of Ichiraku's seats, his eyes found Hatake Kakashi who was trying to calm down a very fierce tempered green haired young girl who had ramen spilt all over her light violet shirt.

"Miraiko?" Iruka blinked twice, gazing at the scene with slight disbelief.

She was pouting at Kakashi who stood up from his seat and pulled out a hand kerchief from his green vest to help her clean her shirt. She seemed to look away with embarrassment when she allowed him to tug at the piece of clothing to rub off the food.

By the time the grey-haired man finished, Iruka had unconsciously balled up his hand into a fist.

"Ah Iruka. What are you doing here? Going to get a bite to eat?" The chuunin was snapped out of his daze when Jiraiya appeared beside him.

"No I think I just lost my appetite." He replied in a monotonous voice.

"Hm? Is that so--Oh!" The sannin cut himself off when his gaze landed on the green haired kunoichi he'd rescued a while ago.

A knowing grin worked it's way up his lips. "Ah yes, I understand. Whenever I witness the virgin beauty of the ladies I study I also can't think of anything else but--"

"She's not a virgin." Iruka cut him off bluntly, before he turned around and walked away.

The sannin blinked, completely stunned for a moment. "Eh?"

* * *

"What if it's going to a leave? What if--" I cried out in agony as I stared down at my messy shirt.

"Hai, hai. Stop worrying so much, it'll be fine. It's just a shirt…" Kakashi hushed me, looking a bit annoyed by my girlish behaviour.

I threw a small glare at him. "Well excuse for liking my outfit that I spent **three hours** on looking for. I care about fashion."

"A true ninja doesn't bother with fashion." He instructed tonelessly, retrieving his perverted novel out of a pocket from his vest.

"Well then you must be a _super ninja_." I retorted sarcastically, hinting at the fact that he only wore boring ninja outfits.

He didn't respond to that.

For a moment I felt the urge to smirk, but when I glanced back at him I saw that he hadn't responded because of the evil little book in his hands that had replaced his annoyed expression with a disturbingly wide smile.

_Pervert._


	23. Scene Twenty Three

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. Reviews are appreciated.

* * *

**

"Why did I have to come _too_?" I kicked the grass beneath my feet, expressing my annoyance as my eyes darted up to face Kakashi and Naruto who were standing on the training field.

"You're still under my supervision, you don't expect me to just leave you to wander around unattended, do you?" Came Kakashi's dull reply, resulting in me glowering at him.

"Can't you send Pakkun over here to 'supervise' me then? He's done it before, hasn't he? And I still have stuff to do." I tried to argue, feeling quite eager to leave.

"Pakkun was only a temporary solution. I'm not bothering him with babysitting you anymore."

"But can't you just for this once--"

"And I need you _here_."

I raised an eyebrow at his statement curiously.

"Why?"

"You'll find out when you're needed."

"What kind of an answer is _that_? Why are you always--"

"Ah come on Miraiko-chan, you can support me when I'm training!" Naruto interjected encouragingly, sending me an expectant look that made it seem like he really wanted me to stay and watch him.

The hopeful expression on his face made it nearly impossible for me to master the strength to continue arguing, so instead I let out a heavy sigh and waved my hand in a dismissive 'whatever' sort of way.

"Lets start the training now then." Kakashi suggested, directing Naruto's attention back to him.

Naruto made a comment about being happy to be able to train with Kakashi again, and while they continued to talk, I sought out a comfortable spot in the soft grass, a few meters away from the pair.

_So they're already at the point where they start to develop Naruto's new jutsu…_

I inhaled deeply, feeling bored. A cool breeze brushed my shoulder length hair aside, the forest green strands slipping over my shoulders and coming to rest on my back.

My eyes traced Kakashi's form, narrowing thoughtfully as he appeared to be explaining some things to Naruto who didn't appear to be getting much of the lecture, as usual.

_'I need you here.'_ The jounin's stupid retort to keep me here rang in my mind.

Why did he need me here?

He didn't need me at all to explain stuff to Naruto or whatever. It didn't make any sense. I mean, why would he rely on me when he didn't even trust me enough to go home alone?

He didn't need me to tell Naruto about physical and spatial chakra re-composition, or to tell him that he could use his tajyuu kage bunshin to shorten--

_Wait! That's it! _

My face instantly lit up, a huge smile breaking through the grim line that represented my mouth.

"We're go to have you develop an ultimate jutsu to call your own. A jutsu superior to even rasengan." Kakashi told Naruto who eyed him carefully, looking very eager to participate in the training that his sensei had planned.

The sensei raised his right hand, sticking up two fingers. "To do that you'll need to have command of two chakra control techniques: physical and spatial re-composition."

"Physical and spatial…re-composition…?" The genin repeated, looking like he was trying out a foreign language.

Kakashi nodded, resuming his lecture. "Exactly. Take Chidori, you 'physically' recompose your chakra to resemble electricity. Then you--"

"--'spatially' recompose it to discharge it. Thus determining the strength and the scope of the attack…" Both men looked up surprise when a different voice finished the final part of Kakashi's sentence before he could.

Their eyes were fixated on me and I smiled at them innocently. "It was what you were going to say, right?"

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed at me sharply before he answered. "…Yes."

"You know about this training too Miraiko-chan?" Naruto asked surprisedly, causing my smile to change into a mischievous grin.

"Yup. I know **everything** Kakashi is going to explain to you." I clarified in a smug voice, turning to Kakashi whom I granted another glimpse of the evil grin before it subsided.

"It's a _future_ thing, you know."

If I wasn't hallucinating (and I was pretty sure I wasn't) I could see the barely visible movement of Kakashi's eye twitching in slight irritation until his expression returned to being neutral and bored.

"Well then, why don't you take the honour of informing Naruto how to perform _my_ training while I finish reading my book?" The sensei offered casually.

It was a challenge. Clearly.

I could feel the air around us thickening tensely as the grey-haired man pulled out his perverted novel from a pocket in his moss green vest and then looked at me daringly.

My grin never faltered as I opened my mouth to reply, accepting the indirect challenge with confidence. "With pleasure."

* * *

"Okay, so you understand the situation with Chidori?" I checked in with Naruto once we were facing each other on the training field. This time Kakashi was the one lounging in the grass with his nose in his book, though I knew he was also listening closely to what I was saying.

After the blonde nodded at me, letting me know he got it, I continued. "Well, unlike Chidori, rasengan is a jutsu relying only on extremely advanced 'spatial' re-composition. Since the jutsu compresses chakra by spinning very fast, it doesn't need 'physical' re-composition."

"Physical re-composition…I see, I see." Naruto repeated to himself.

"Physical re-composition will be an absolute necessity for you to acquire a jutsu that will surpass rasengan." I told him, receiving an excited look from the blonde.

"Makes sense to me! Alright, time for 'physical' re-composition!" He cried out avidly, rubbing his hands together eagerly.

"Yeah, yeah I know you're ready to go, but wait a sec. Getting to learn that technique costs an enormous amount of time." I hushed him back into silence, not wanting to get an overly hyper Naruto.

He didn't lose the eager posture though, it merely seemed to boost it. "So how are we going to reduce it then?"

"By using your tajyuu kage bunshin." I answered curtly, making him frown.

"Huh? What do you mean?" He blinked in confusion, looking troubled.

I sighed, rubbing the back of my head. "Okay I'll get straight to point now. So listen carefully."

"Please make it as simple as possible!"

"Yeah, yeah." I waved my hand at him airily, while gathering the necessary information in my head that I remembered from the manga.

"You already know that instead of just making another copy of yourself, you can make actual bodies with your kage bunshin. In other words, a jutsu that creates an actual human copy of yourself. And when the jutsu is undone, the kage bunshin returns to your own body and the things they experienced add up to become part of your experience as well."

"…I said make it simple." Naruto insisted, a deadpanned expression on his face.

I rolled my eyes, already knowing this was going to happen. "Just make a kage bunshin and do what I say."

"Okay. **Kage bunshin no jutsu**!" A clone of Naruto appeared beside him and I turned around to face Kakashi.

"Kakashi could you…?" I asked slowly, hinting at what he already knew. He lazily performed a few hand seals until a shadow clone of himself appeared as well.

The genin sent me a questioning look, which I answered with a reassuring smile. "Follow Kakashi's clone into the woods while you wait here with me."

"Okay…" He watched doubtfully as the two shadow clones disappeared into the woods and we waited for a while. Then suddenly Naruto startled and I knew the kage bunshin had finished their jobs.

"You know what they were doing right?"

"Yeah! We played a rock-paper-scissors game and I won." He grinned victoriously.

"Right. So you understand it now?" I inquired calmly.

"Yeah I get it. I just never noticed what happened up until now…" He mused thoughtfully.

I nodded, opening my mouth to resume my lecture. "Okay, now I'll keep the rest of the explanation short but simple. Basically if you use the kage bunshin and do the same training with two of you, then you gain two times the amount of experience."

"Okay, okay." He replied hastily, encouraging me to hurry up.

"In other words, if you have two clones do the same training, the required training time can be cut into half. If there are _three_, it'll be 1/3 of the time." I paused briefly.

"And with thousand clones, it'll be 1/1000 of the time."

"I see…" He mumbled in awe, looking like he was starting to catch up with my drift.

"So if training takes you two days, with the clone it'll take you only one. Even something that would take you twenty years, with a thousand clones it would only take you one week." I pointed out grinningly.

"Oh! That's a great plan!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly, gaining a grin that matched mine.

"Okay, from here I'll take over." Kakashi interrupted us, getting up from the ground with his book still firmly in his grip.

He walked over to us, tucking his book back into his pocket as he stood next to me. I glanced up at him curiously, noticing the faint change in his expression. It almost looked like he was…impressed.

_HA! Success! My plan worked, it actually worked! _My mind screamed out loud in blissful happiness and I uttered a soft 'yes!' to myself to celebrate my achievement.

Naruto and Kakashi began to talk about the fact that Naruto was the only one who could perform this kind of training, because he had a huge amount of chakra.

I was pulled back to reality when Yamato entered the scene.

"Kakashi-san asked me to help you out with training, you may need me to control the kyuubi's chakra after all." The ninja explained as he stepped forward, earning a grateful smile from Naruto.

"Alright, next I'll explain how to manipulate the nature of your chakra." Kakashi instructed, drawing the focus back to himself.

"Ossu!"

* * *

_I wonder how long this is going to take…_

"..There are five types of chakra: fire, wind, water, lightning and earth…"

_Why exactly was I here again?_

"…Generally everyone has a chakra that fits one of those categories. For example the Uchiha clan had fire natured chakra.."

_Oh right. Kakashi wanted to keep that a big 'surprise'. Ugh._

"..If it's wind, they use 'Fuuton'. If it's lightning, they use 'Raiton'. For example, Chidori is one type of Raiton jutsu…"

_Oh well, at least I showed him that I, in fact, __have__ seen the 'future'. Bet he didn't expect that._

"So it means that Sasuke has both fire and lightning…"

_Hmm…What should I make for dinner tonight?_

"..And that you have none. But we still don't know what chakra you're skilled with…"

_Not ramen…I hate chopsticks…_

"We'll check with these papers."

_They should burn in hell-- Wait, what did he just say?_

"Papers?" I repeated when my eyes came in contact with a very familiar stack of small white papers that rested in Kakashi's hand.

The jounin nodded, pulling out one of the papers. "You've already seen these once, haven't you?"

"Yeah…But they kinda got torn apart as soon as I touched them.." I winced at the painful memory, feeling awkward.

"That's because you unconsciously channelled your wind chakra into them." Kakashi replied, making me raise my eyebrows.

"Huh?"

"This is a paper that easily reacts to chakra--"

"--Yeah I know, it's made from trees that were raised and fed with chakra, but did you just say that I have _wind_ chakra?" I cut him off quickly, looking at him anxiously.

Kakashi sent me an curious look before answering me. "Yes."

"So you're saying that I have the same chakra as Naruto?!" I exclaimed carelessly, causing all three men to send me shocked looks.

"I have wind chakra?! Awesome!" Naruto repeated excitedly, but Kakashi and Yamato didn't appear to be that easily satisfied by my statement.

"Try channelling your chakra into this paper first Naruto, then we'll know for sure." The grey told him sternly, remarking the fact that he didn't trust my judgment.

"Okay…" He closed his eyes as he held the paper, concentrating.

"HA!"

"…"

"It's wind chakra after all, isn't it."

* * *

"H-Hey! Kakashi, wait up!" I panted as I tried to keep up with his fast pace back home.

My supervisor made a muffled reply that I couldn't make words of, but I instinctively knew that it had to resemble something like 'can't keep up?'.

It was overly obvious that I must've struck a nerve by proving that I knew things that he couldn't cover up for with stupid excuses like: 'well maybe you're a spy' or 'you just stole some documents and memorized the information'.

Which was exactly why I came up with the idea of taking over his lecture in the first place.

Because now he couldn't deny anymore that I knew things that he couldn't predict.

"Kakaassssssshiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Pleeeeeease!"

Though he _could_ still torture me and make me run like a dog…

I endured the silent treatment I got for a while, until we reached the whereabouts of Konoha again and I abruptly stopped moving, getting sick of his behaviour.

"**Why can't you deal with reality?!**" I screamed at the top of my lungs, forcing out as much sound as I could, leaving me breathless.

He finally stopped running as well, coming to a halt a few meters ahead of me.

Slowly he turned around, wearing an unreadable expression that made me feel uneasy because I couldn't see what affect my shout had on him.

"Reality, you say?" He began to decrease the distance between us.

"Why can't you just accept that I'm telling the truth?" I asked between quick breaths, still breathing unsteadily.

He continued to walk, taking his time to reach me. "Why are _you_ so keen on making me accept you? Does it really matter what I think of you?"

I sent him an incredulous look, feeling a strange urge to laugh. "Of course it matters what you think of me. Do you think I'd rather have you treating me like a liar?"

"That wouldn't be very convenient, no…" He mused more to himself as he stopped walking and stood in front of me.

"Don't get sarcastic with me! Just tell me what you don't like about me already!" I demanded heatedly, tensing up.

He remained quiet for a moment, as though he was weighing off the consequences of his next move. Then his dark eye lowered to meet with my expectant ones again.

"Your face."

I gave him a dumbfound look. "My…_face_?"

"Yes." Having that said, he bluntly turned on his heel and resumed his way home.

I blinked, trying to make sense of what just happened, but I could only come to one conclusion.

"ARE YOU CALLING ME UGLY?!"


	24. Scene Twenty Four

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. Reviews are appreciated.**

* * *

Alcohol.

Iruka wished he could drown his problems with it.

And that was exactly what he was trying to do as he slammed another empty glass of beer on the bar table and he asked the bartender for more.

He knew he shouldn't be drinking in the early morning when he was also supposed to be on duty today. He knew he was drinking more than was good for him and his vision was starting to get woozy, but he didn't care.

He'd rather allow his thoughts to get clouded by a nasty hangover that was bound to hit him sooner or later, than having to deal with his horrible memories. Though in his current still half sober state, he couldn't get rid of them just yet.

Miraiko and Hatake Kakashi.

Why had _they_ been _together_ at Ichiraku after Miraiko declined having ramen with Iruka?

_Hatake-san is her supervisor, it's completely normal for them to spend time together. They probably just happened to pass by Ichiraku. It's not necessarily what you think it is._

The more rational part of his mind tried to reason with him, trying to put him at ease, but a less positive part of his mind also voiced it's opinion.

_Isn't it suspicious for them to be together at such a place? And do you remember the way Kakashi touched her when he was cleaning up her shirt? Do you honestly think it was an innocent friendly gesture? Do you really think he wasn't considering the opportunity to take advantage of the situation?_

In his doubtful, suspicious state of mind, the lovesick chuunin was easily tempted to listen to the suggestions his negative inner voice was making.

_And isn't it rather convenient for him to approach her, after all she lives in his __**house**__. Who knows what goes on behind closed doors…_

Iruka slammed his fist against the wooden bar table, silencing his thoughts. He didn't want to think about all the things the copy ninja could've done while the foreign girl was in his care.

It wasn't like anything had happened yet, right? Hatake Kakashi wouldn't take advantage of this kind of a situation, he wasn't like that. Sure, he had some bad habits and he wasn't one of the most understandable people.

But still! He was an honourable elite jounin. He had only good intentions, he would never--

_Keep telling yourself that. But lets face it, you don't know a thing about the __true__ nature of his relationship with Sorano-san. You don't know anything._

Just when he felt like he was going to snap, Iruka noticed a presence beside him and he looked up at Jiraiya who'd seated himself next to the chuunin.

Iruka wasn't sure whether or not he had to be happy that one of the great sannin had found him half drunk in the morning. For a brief moment the horrifying image of Tsunade-sama strangling him to death for disobeying the rules flashed through his mind, until the male sannin spoke up.

"Yo." It was a friendly greeting, but as Iruka's eyes travelled up to meet with Jiraiya's face, he could detect some disapproval in the older man's expression.

"Ohayo Jiraiya-sama." He acknowledged respectfully, having to blink more than a few times to adjust his woozy vision. This was definitely not going to leave a good impression on the sannin.

Jiraiya glanced down at the bar table, staring the impressive amount of empty beer glasses that Iruka had indulged himself into during the past hour.

"Has Konoha's water supply dried up? I see you've been quite _thirsty_." The author of the Icha Icha series commented dryly, hinting at the fact that his companion was throwing back alcohol at such an early hour.

"Ah…Err…N-No I just…" Iruka tried to pronounce a decent sentence, but his mind was cloudy and his words were slurry because the alcohol was already working it's magic.

Finally when Iruka shut his mouth, not knowing what else to do, the sannin all of a sudden burst out in loud laughter and his palm collided with Iruka's back, patting him repeatedly and causing him to cough.

Jiraiya's laughing turned into snickering as a thoughtful look flashed through his glinting eyes.

"Ahh you've got it bad…You've got it bad…" He nodded to himself knowingly, while the brunet tried to regain his breath and his balance.

"I've got…what?" Iruka questioned slowly, clutching his forehead. He could already feel an awful headache coming up.

The white haired sannin sent him a meaningful look, grinning in open amusement. "Women, my friend, _women_. You're showing all symptoms of an unrequited love."

He watched as the brunet straightened himself and lowered his hand from his forehead, looking as though he was trying to glare at him but all he could master in his current state was an annoyed pout.

"I'm not--"

"Ahh you're wrong if you think you can drink away your problems. Women, you know, they're strange creatures. It's like a spell. Before you know it they have you eating out of their hands like a dog and all you can do is pray that they won't get bored of you." The sannin went on, ignoring Iruka's retort.

Too tired to argue, Iruka gave up and listened to whatever Jiraiya was lecturing about.

"So who's the girl?" Jiraiya asked, pausing to look down at the chuunin with interest.

Iruka looked away stubbornly, trying to focus on something other than his nosy interrogator.

"Hmm…Is it Kakashi's girl? The one with the green hair? What was her name again..?" Jiraiya threw in a random guess, but immediately succeeded in making the chuunin jerk up with anger burning in his eyes.

"She is not _Kakashi's_." He bit back sharply, perhaps a bit too hasty.

Jiraiya's eyes glinted mischievously and he moved a bit closer to his companion. "Ho? Why are you getting so defensive about it?"

It clicked when he gave the subject some more thought. "Ooooooh! A love rival!"

"_What_?! What are you talking about? There is **no** love rival. Don't just assume things!" Iruka retorted quickly, rising from his seat though instantly regretting it when he began to wobble drunkenly.

"Ahh still in denial I see…Hmm, this would make a great plot for my new book.." The sannin murmured to himself, grinning greedily.

"I'm not in denial, I'm-- Ugh…" The chuunin attempted to argue, but a wave of nausea caught him off guard and his hand shot up to cover his mouth.

His stomach was starting to disagree with it's contents.

"Don't worry your secret is safe with. But I'm really curious though. What does Kakashi have to do with--"

"…Jiraiya-sama, I don't feel good…I'm think I'm going to--"

"Eh? AH! HOLY SHI-! IRUKA GET A GRIP ON YOURSELF!"

* * *

Meanwhile…

"_U-G-L-Y! You ain't got no alibi, you're ugly! Eh, hey, you're UGLY!"_

_"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! I'M NOT UGLY!!" I screamed in horror as Kakashi danced around my head tauntingly._

_"Your hair was all frizzy and your face was a mess, I thought it was a sack but it's your favourite dress!" He continued to sing, it was horrible. Horrible and off key._

_"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH! I HATE THAT SONG, GO AWAY KAKASHI! GO AWAY!" I began to run away but to no avail because the evil grey haired man easily caught up with me._

_Then suddenly I bumped into a wall and when I turned around to walk around it, another wall appeared and another…I was surrounded by them!_

_I swallowed hard, not daring to turn around when I felt hands grabbing my shoulders and a heavy weight fell on top of me. I yelped as gravity betrayed me and sent me flying forward._

_"U-G-L-Y! I don't mean to insult you…Oh wait, YES I DO!" His terrible singing voice yelled into my ears as I hit the ground like a rock with him on top of my back._

_"GET OFF ME KAKASHI! I'M BEGGING YOU! HAVE MERCY!!" I managed to shake him off and he rolled away, but then I felt the earth slipping away beneath my feet._

_There were only four words I could think of before I--_

"I AM NOT UGLY…!"

Thunk.

"OWWWW!"

My head throbbed painfully after it made contact with the hard floor of my bedroom while my legs were tangled up in my messy bed sheets and my arms were dangling limply over my mattress.

I groaned in frustration and pushed myself back up on my mattress, dropping my chin on the soft fabric of my pillow as the pathetic urge to cry washed over me.

A nightmare.

I had a freaking nightmare about Kakashi! Why? Oh why did he have to haunt my dreams? Wasn't it enough already that he'd called me ugly straight in my face?!

"Miraiko, get out of bed! We're meeting up with Kurenai-san in an hour!"

I made an annoyed '_aaaaargh_!' noise when the evil man's voice called out to me from downstairs, burying my face in my pillow.

"Oi Miraiko--"

"Let me sleep for crying out loud, you evil off-key singing man!!" I cried back groggily with my pillow muffling my reply, not caring how stupid my words must've sounded to him.

It was awkwardly quiet then. "Thank God…" I muttered to myself tiredly, deciding to take at least another half hour of sleep and I closed my eyes to allow myself to drift back to sleep.

Hopefully this time_ without_ a singing weirdo bringing me a serenade about my ugliness.

* * *

Iruka sighed, discouraged, as he stopped in front of Kakashi's house. He still didn't understand how he let Jiraiya talk him into it, but here he was.

_"Talk to her. It's the only way you'll be sure of her feelings." _Jiraiya had wisely advised him after Iruka had confided in him.

Though it was a wonder that Jiraiya didn't take off right after Iruka nearly threw up on him.

The image of the horrified sannin still lingered in the back of the chuunin's head, causing his cheeks to turn pink with embarrassment. But now wasn't the time to think of that. No, he had a bigger obstacle to deal with right now.

His hand rose to the door and he inhaled deeply, before knocking softly. He heard some movement at the other side of the entrance, then footsteps edged closer and Kakashi's face popped out.

"Ah, Iruka. What brings you here?" The grey haired jounin inquired, sounding surprised to find the brunet in front of his house. They rarely spent time together unless they happened to be on duty together.

"..I came to see Sorano-san, is she here?" The brunet answered, shifting a bit.

"Yeah she's here alright, just being difficult again." Kakashi muttered somewhat irritably under his breath, rubbing his chin.

Iruka furrowed his eyebrows a little, wondering what he meant by being _difficult_.

"You can come in though, I think she should be up by now. Otherwise you can see if you can wake her up. She's supposed to go to Kurenai in an hour though, so don't take too long."

"Thanks."

The path that led to Miraiko's room seemed endless as Iruka climbed the stairs and his feet moved forward at an uneager, slow pace. By the time he stood in front of the girl's bedroom door, his entire body felt tingly.

He wasn't sure of what to expect when he entered the room.

"Hmm..." A soft moan reached his ears and a moment later his eyes found a peaceful looking Miraiko who was fast asleep. She was lying on her back, the bed sheets only reached her waist and the rest of her body was exposed to his gaze.

_Thank God she's wearing a shirt.._ Iruka thought gratefully as he moved further into the room, looking around to take in his surroundings.

It definitely defined a girl's room even though there wasn't much furniture.

Her closet, which was half open, revealed a large amount of neatly piled up casual clothes. Probably more than was necessary for a ninja, but then again she wasn't raised like one from what he knew.

There were silky blue curtains with white star patterns on either side of the window at the left of the room. Beneath the window stood a medium sized wooden desk with one small red bottle of perfume and a few shuriken and kunai scattered over it messily.

He was about to admire the colourful flowers at the desk beside her bed when he heard her mumble something in her sleep. "Nnn…Kakashi…hmm.."

_Kakashi? _His dark brown eyes grew wider, before his eyebrows lowered in a v-angle.

Miraiko was..._dreaming_ about the jounin. Her previously peaceful face now showed some signs of discomfort as she breathed softly and continued to mumble absentmindedly in her sleep.

"Please…stop teasing…Hnn.."

_Stop teasing?! What on earth is she dreaming about?!_ Iruka's mind shrieked in shock while he stared down at her disbelievingly.

"Kakashi.." When she uttered her supervisor's name a second time in such a dreamy voice, Iruka knew all he needed to know. A rush of anger shot through him as he whirled around swiftly and threw the door open carelessly.

But little did Iruka know, what Miraiko had _actually_ been dreaming about.

And as Iruka stormed out of the house without saying another word to it's inhabitants, a certain green haired girl with nightmares of a certain grey haired man woke up abruptly.

"I'M NOT UGLY KAKASHI! ...Huh?" And wondered why the hell the door of her bedroom looked like it was ready to fall off spontaneously.

* * *

"Ne…Miraiko-san, are you sure you're feeling alright?" Was the first thing Kurenai asked me after Kakashi dropped me off at her doorstep.

"Peachy." I replied dryly, very aware of the fact that my current appearance resembled that of a brain-dead zombie. "Shall I start in the living room first?"

Kurenai looked hesitant, tilted her head a bit to take a better look at me for a minute, then nodded and offered me a motherly smile. "Just take it easy, alright? You don't look very cheerful today…Did something happen to you?"

"Kakashi happened to me." I yawned loudly, rubbing my eyes tiredly.

The raven haired woman sent me a questioning look, encouraging me to give more details.

"You remember what I told you about him treating me like a criminal, right? Well, last night I stood up to him and demanded what he didn't like about me. Then he called me ugly and today he gave me a nightmare. **TWICE**!"

"Kakashi-san called you _ugly_? I can hardly imagine that." Kurenai raised her eyebrows, taken aback by the idea.

"Yeah well his exact words were 'Your face', which is basically the same thing. And now he won't stop singing irritating songs about my ugliness in my head!" I exclaimed heatedly, getting frustrated.

The female jounin laughed softly, making me pout at her. "Gomen, I didn't mean to laugh at you, but just because he said he didn't like your face…It doesn't necessarily mean that he thinks you're ugly, ne?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What else could he mean by it?"

"Maa na, Kakashi-san is a complicated man. He's not someone who gives you direct answers easily." She explained, smiling apologetically.

"That much is for sure." I grumbled in annoyance, grimacing.

She smiled again, patting my head in a cheerful manner. "Anyway, lets go do something fun to take your mind off of him. You like cooking right? Do you want to help me prepare lunch?"

I smiled back brightly, grateful that she was here to lighten my mood. "Yeah, sounds good."

"So…How long has it been since you stranded here?" Kurenai asked me while we were busy in the kitchen.

"Oh about three weeks, I think." I replied, raising a spoon to taste the miso soup I was making.

_Three weeks? Already?_

Suddenly I became very aware of how much time had already passed ever since I literally fell into this world. Three weeks had already gone by. Nearly a month.

How much longer would I be stuck here?

When would I find my way back home?

_What if I never will? _I blinked slowly, my eyes widening twice their size at the scary thought.

It couldn't be that I'd never go back, right? One way or another I'd eventually come up with a way to return home, right? It wasn't like I would spend the rest of my life in an imaginary world where people like Kakashi were distrustful of me, right?

The look in my eyes grew grim.

Why did these thoughts always catch me off guard when I least expected it?

Why hadn't I thought of these things before?

"Miraiko-san?" The pregnant woman's voice cut through my thoughts, snapping me out of my daze and I dropped the spoon I was holding.

I stared at it as it hit the floor.

"..Miraiko are you okay?" Her warm hand fell over my shoulder comfortingly as she leant down to inspect my pale face.

"No…actually I think I'm not."

* * *

**Note:** For anyone who is curious, the song that Kakashi was singing in Miraiko's nightmare is called:

U.G.L.Y by Daphne and Celeste


	25. Scene Twenty Five

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. Reviews are appreciated.**

* * *

"I'm so sorry, I must've completely ruined your good mood…"

"No, no, it's alright.. Miraiko-chan…Is it alright if I call you Miraiko-_chan_?"

"Yeah it's fine.. I'm just…such a moron for not thinking this through sooner.."

I clenched my teeth, lifting my hands to wipe my red puffy eyes dry.

Kurenai was with me in her living room, collecting the many wet tissues that I'd chucked on the table. It'd been about five minutes since I broke down in tears and I'd already managed to use up half of the tissue box she had given me.

"Why haven't you?" The woman with the piercing red eyes asked me after I lowered my arms.

I kept my eyes focused on the moss green carpet beneath my feet as it vaguely reminded me of the unusual colour of my hair, while I reached for a fresh tissue.

"I guess I never…I never had the time to really figure out how I got here. I mean, sure I've thought about it a few times, but I never seriously talked to anyone." I paused to blow my nose.

"I was too busy with adapting to _this _world instead of finding out how I would get back to my own world. And with Naruto and other people constantly bugging me about what I knew about the future, I stopped talking about myself, because I got fed up with all the questions."

Kurenai seemed to be lost in her own thoughts when I turned my head to look at her. I stared at her, disappointed.

_She must really think I'm a fool now--_

Just when I was starting to believe that my words had been nothing but transparent air to her, she blinked and readjusted her gaze to me.

"I understand. So basically ever since you got here, you never had the chance to really think of yourself. It must've been hard to be struggling with this for so long.."

I blinked at her, feeling my eyes watering again. I shook my head with a wry smile. "You make it sound like it isn't my fault, but I know I'm stupid for not talking about this sooner. I must really be an idiot…"

She laughed heartily, giving me a look that reminded me of one of those looks your mother gives you when she thinks you're being silly or cute.

"You're not an idiot, you're just dealing with too much at the same time. Trouble with Kakashi-san, trouble with Tsunade-sama, trouble with life in general and now this."

"Yeah…" I mumbled tiredly.

"You should talk about this with Kakashi-san or Tsunade-sama soon. But first…"

I looked at her curiously when she trailed off and got up from her seat to walk out of the room, only to return with two small pieces of green paper in her hand which she held out for me.

I took them with raised eyebrows, studying them. "Free tickets for the hot springs…?"

She nodded with a lighthearted grin. "You could use some relaxation, don't you agree? We can go together and spend a day there. It'll be much more fun than doing chores."

I blinked at her again, unable to understand why this woman was so determined to cheer me up. Not to mention that she probably bought these tickets for her and someone _else_.

"But are you sure you want to go with me? I mean, you really don't have to give one to me if you're already going with someone." I offered politely, not wanting to force her into this just because she was concerned about me.

"Oh no, I happened to win these at one of those little lotteries at a small shop. Originally I did plan to take Asuma with me, but he's been too busy with missions lately so it'll be fine. And it's been a while since I spent time with a female friend." She waved it off airily, smiling.

I gave her an 'are-you-some-kind-of-angel?' look, succeeding in making her laugh a little until she shrugged lightly and took the tickets from me.

"I'll take you there tomorrow. Consider it a way to take your mind off of things for a little while so you can start out fresh again later." She said as she began to walk away to return the tickets to their original space.

"Thanks!" I called after her, feeling a real smile tugging my lips upwards.

* * *

_Sweep. Sweep._

I hummed smilingly as I mopped the living room (after convincing Kurenai that I really wanted to do some chores today even though I practically had mental breakdown earlier).

It never really occurred to me before because I'd never really paid attention to her character in the 'real' world before, but she was a very nice person to be around.

And though the actual reason that I came to visit her was to help her with boring chores, I was starting to like her company a lot.

Knock. Knock.

The sound of someone pounding on the front door caught my attention and for a moment I felt the urge to warn Kurenai, but I knew she was upstairs to rest a little, so I put away my mop and went to answer the door by myself instead.

It must've been the worst mistake of **my** **entire life**.

I stopped in front of the door.

I reached for the door handle.

I turned it to open the door.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

I felt like screaming my head off when all of a sudden the air literally got knocked out of me and something tackled me to the floor.

It was huge.

It was heavy.

It was _hairy_.

And it was trying to kiss me.

_Since when do sexual harassers stop by to visit pregnant women's houses?! …KURENAI WHO THE HELL DO YOU HANG OUT WITH?! _

My mind screamed in enragement as I was pressed against the hard floor helplessly. I yelped and flailed frantically, hoping to find something big and sharp or anything that could get this…this…_thing_ off of me.

The_ thing_ made some weird kind of chuckling noise before my wrists were stolen and pinned to the floor as lips edged down dangerously close. That's when I saw it.

I nearly had a heart attack when I realized that the _thing _had a horrifyingly familiar face as it hovered above mine. Dark eyes stared down at me with slight confusion and the small black hairs of the _thing's_ beard tickled my nose.

The entire house must've shook with an explosion of teenage horror when I exclaimed it's name.

"**ASUMA?!**"

Then everything was quiet. Terribly quiet.

It was the kind of silence you'd never want to experience in your entire life.

Not now. Not EVER.

"…You…You're _not Kurenai_." And then the source of the nightmares I'd be having for the next ten years realized his mistake.

Abruptly he shot up, nearly tripping over my legs as he backed away with an embarrassed colour of flame red claiming his face. "Who are you?! What have you done to her? Why did you try to seduce me?!"

Every nerve in my body twitched in disgust at his ridiculous accusation. "Seduce you?! What the hell?" I glared at him, fuming with anger.

"You attacked me, you…_you_…CHILD MOLESTER!!"

"I did no such thing! I thought you were Kurenai!"

"That's even worse! You're going to freaking tackle your **pregnant **girlfriend?! You want your baby to die or something?!"

"Wha-- I was..._What_?" He gaped at me, obviously at a loss of words.

"What's going on here?" A third voice interjected, followed by a soft yawn.

Both the child molester and I looked up to see Kurenai standing at the stairway, sending us a somewhat entertained look.

"Kurenai! It's not what it looks like! This…This trespasser seduced me!" Asuma pointed at me accusingly, causing me to intensify the glare I was directing at him.

"YOU LYING CHILD MOLESTER! I FEEL SORRY FOR THE BABY ALREADY!"

"YOU LYING TRESSPASSSER! WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!"

"IT MEANS THAT I HOPE HE OR SHE WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT A HORNY DAD SHE OR HE HAD, YOU PREGNANT WOMEN-TACKLING JERK!!"

"…May I suggest to sort this out in a more **civilised** manner?"

* * *

"Hahaha! I see, I see. So Miraiko-chan has been helping you out with the daily chores. That's good." Asuma laughed light-heartedly, smiling at me and his girlfriend.

"I would prefer it if you called me Miraiko-SAN, instead of -CHAN…" I retorted darkly, shooting imaginary daggers at him despite the fact that Kurenai made me forgive him for getting a little carried away.

_If that was getting a __little__ carried away, I don't want to be around when he goes all out._

"Ha…ha…Alright." The jounin's smile wavered after he took notice of my gloomy expression.

It was silent then, until Kurenai spoke.

"Maa na, at least now we know that Kakashi-san was completely wrong about you being unattractive, ne Miraiko-chan?" She smiled sweetly, making it appear like a friendly statement, but I knew she was trying to get a rise out of me.

I smiled back in the same manner. "Well don't blame me if your boyfriend jumps at me a second time."

Asuma remained nervously silent, sensing an upcoming argument, but his expression became amusingly dumbfounded when instead Kurenai and I burst out in laughter.

I almost had to cry from laughter and I noticed she did too while the only male in the room gawked at us as if we'd just lost our minds.

When we finally regained ourselves, I smiled at her sincerely. _'Thanks. I needed that.'_

She smiled back, nodding. _'I know.'_

After I finished doing my chores at Kurenai's house, I returned back home.

* * *

It didn't surprise me that Kakashi wasn't there, after all he was still training with Naruto and it would take a while for them to create that new jutsu of the blonde...

I went to the kitchen to get a drink, strawberry lemonade. Then I walked back to the living room and stared out of the window while my thoughts drifted off to ponder about what Kurenai had advised me to do.

Talk to someone about my problems.

Talk to_ Kakashi_ about it.

But did I really want to talk to him about it? Sure he was my supervisor and he's supposed to talk to me about this kind of thing, but still…

He didn't exactly make me feel like he was someone I could rely on, now did he?

"Someone I can rely on…Someone who does accept me…Someone who-- Ah?" I stopped musing to myself when I caught sight of someone familiar outside.

"Iruka…" I mumbled, staring at his walking figure as it disappeared behind the corner of a grocery shop.

_That's it! Although we've argued a lot…He's someone I can rely on, right? He's the perfect person to talk to! _I thought happily as I quickly swallowed the last bit of my drink and dashed out of the house to fetch the chuunin.

* * *

It didn't take me long before I was starting to catch up with him and I decided to shout his name to draw his attention to me.

"Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei, wait up!"

In the distance I could see him pause his walk for a moment, looking around like he'd just heard something, until he resumed his walk again instead of turning around.

_What? He can't be that deaf, can he?_

I knotted my eyebrows together, increasing my running pace. It didn't really help, because there were more people walking in front of me and I couldn't just push them aside without being rude so I was forced to walk slower.

"_Iruka-sensei_!" I tried to shout a little harder. He didn't hear it.

It seemed like the thick sea of people that surrounded him only got bigger and bigger, because just as soon as I'd seen Iruka, his body faded in the crowd.

Eventually I reached a small alley where I thought he'd walked into, but when there was no one there, I realized that it must've been my imagination. I finally gave up and turned to head back home again, feeling disappointed.

But I didn't know that I, in fact, _had_ seen him walking into that alley.

* * *

Iruka watched as the green haired teenage girl walked into the alley, looking around confusedly. Good. So she hadn't seen him jumping on top of the building.

He was looking down at her now, safely, from high above her.

Guilt was gnawing at him, but his pride was stronger and it kept him in his hiding place.

He didn't understand why she'd come looking for him when she obviously had Kakashi.

She didn't need Umino Iruka and he didn't need her.

Or that's what he kept telling himself while he fought the urge to jump down and grab her as he watched her walking out of the alley, with a sad look on her face.


	26. Scene Twenty Six

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. Reviews are appreciated.**

* * *

"I'm positive that he walked into that alley…But he suddenly just disappeared."

"Hmm…"

"Maybe it was just my imagination, but still…"

"Mhm…"

"Do you think he's avoiding me? But that would make no sense, because--"

"You know what I _think_?"

"What?"

"You're wasting the precious time I offered you in this delightful hot water. Stop worrying so much and start _enjoying_ your free day." Kurenai ordered me in a stern voice as she sank deeper into the steamy water until it reached her neck.

I let out a slightly irritated sigh, grimacing childishly. I knew she was right, really.

After all she did invite me to come with her to the local hot springs to relax. But pushing away the doubtful thoughts I was having about Iruka seemed like an impossible task.

"Maybe he _is _going deaf? I think I once read something about that happening to middle-aged men when they--"

SPLASH!

I was forced to shut up when without warning a huge wave of water crashed down on me and a couple of women at the other side of the water giggled at me amusedly, _annoyingly_.

_Damn these public baths._

Kurenai, the cause of the little tsunami, gave me a suggestive smile which I wisely took as a hint to stop talking about the chuunin or risk being drowned.

"Okay **fine**, no more complaining about Iruka…"

"Excellent."

The next five minutes was spent with me blowing bubbles under water, me humming annoying tunes from random 'Spice Girls' songs, me counting clouds out loud and Kurenai occasionally sending me semi-ticked off looks.

The end result wasn't very surprising.

"Alright…What else about Iruka bothers you…" The raven haired woman finally gave in with a weary sigh, brushing away a few long wet hairs that clung to her damp cheek.

I instantly stopped counting clouds (I'd just reached number 239) and turned back to face her, leaning forward while humming thoughtfully.

"What should I do about this?"

"Talk to him?"

"But what if he _is_ avoiding me? I can't keep up with that crazy super ninja speed."

At this retort Kurenai didn't answer for a moment, considering her options quietly.

"I suppose I could ask Asuma to pay him a visit…"

"Really? Thanks, that would help a lot!" I sat up, my eyes glittering hopefully.

"Though I can't guarantee that it will make much of a difference. After all, if Iruka is really avoiding you the reason must have something to do withyou." She reminded me quickly.

There was a long pause.

"…But I didn't do anything."

And then Kurenai was subjected to yet another annoying round of endless questions for the rest of her supposedly _relaxing_ day at the hot springs.

* * *

_You just couldn't your big mouth shut, now could you? I bet you ruined her mood for the rest of the day with your stupid nagging. _I dropped my head forward in the water, blowing angry bubbles at my troublesome, annoyingly honest inner voice.

I was still at the hot springs, but Kurenai, after having to endure the endless blabbing of my mouth, had left a while ago with a gloomy expression.

_You'll probably be washing twice more dishes than usual when you go to her house tomorrow. Oh and what a wonderful experience the cooking shall be. _

I banged my head on the water, making it splash around wildly and not caring about the weird looks I received from the more _mature_ women in the pool.

_If there's gonna be any cooking that is. Maybe she'll make you starve. Pregnant women can be quite sadistic with their sudden mood swings and stuff. Oh you're really in for it now--_

"SHUT UP!" I swung my arms around frustratedly, not paying attention to a small group of women who were slowly but gradually trying to escape to the exit, before I ended my childish tantrum.

By the time that I finally calmed down, I noticed that for some odd reason I was the only one left in the water. I sighed and tugged up the towel around my chest a bit because it'd sank down slightly after making so many wild movements.

Then I dipped myself down until the water reached my chin.

"Oh shoot! They've all left…Damn…"

A hushed low voice suddenly grumbled quietly, snapping me out of my daze. "Who's there?!"

I whirled out, narrowing my eyes at the tall wooden planks that served as a fence around the pool, until my eyes fell onto a detail I hadn't noticed before.

Near a few bushes, were two suspicious holes in a plank that appeared to be just the right size to allow a pair of eyes to peek through them.

"Oh crap!" The hushed voice spoke again, only this time louder and I could footsteps trying to scramble away.

_That sounds familiar somehow…Could it be?_

"ERO-SENNIN!" I accused loudly, causing the footsteps to halt with a hard shrieking noise.

Silence.

"…Naruto? Is that you? How did you get in the women's bathing house?" Jiraiya's voice questioned suspiciously as his face popped up over the fence with caution.

I rolled my eyes at his stupid comment, feeling the urge to slap myself.

"It's not Naruto, you baka-sannin! I'm Miraiko. Sorano Miraiko, remember?"

"Ah yes…"

The sannin's eyes finally fell on me, widening with interest, before a rush of bright red claimed his now thoughtful looking face.

I frowned at him, looking down and gasping when I saw that I'd let the towel slip again and it now revealed more cleavage than was appropriate. …Especially now my only company was a _legendary _pervert.

"Oi perverted old man, stop gawking at me and tell me where Iruka is. You know where he lives or something right?" I demanded after firmly pulling up my towel to shield my chest from his perverse eyes.

He immediately snapped back to reality and looked startled. "Uh…maybe."

"Don't lie to me! You know he's been avoiding me for whatever reason right? You'd better tell me why or else!" I yelled at him, shaking my fist at him threateningly.

His expression changed again, his eyes glinting at me daringly as if he'd just found a way to escape his unfortunate fate. "Or else _what_?"

"Or else I'm going to tell Asuma that you were ogling** Kurenai**!"

"…"

* * *

Jiraiya stared me intently as we took our seats at one of the local bars he'd suggested.

"Well?" I asked impatiently, folding my arms over my chest while a waitress placed a glass of fruity lemonade in front of me and quite large glass of _sake_ Japanese liquor in front of the old sannin.

He reached for his glass, took in a deep breath and then threw back his drink in one big gulp before he exhaled deeply. I kept staring at him with the same little amount of patience.

Jiraiya, realizing that I wasn't going to let him take his time, then scratched the back of his neck and returned his gaze to me.

"Okay, I won't bother with stupid excuses and such…But promise me that you will not freak out after I've told you this." He said slowly, not looking very eager for my reaction.

"Just tell me." I replied, unwilling to wait any longer.

"Alright. I'm going to keep this as short as possible. You ready?"

"Yes…"

"Iruka thinks that you are in a romantic relationship with Hatake Kakashi."

"…"

"…Sorano-san?"

"…"

"Oi, are you hearing what I'm saying--"

"_**WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!**_"

Jiraiya backed away with a horrified expression as if he just witnessed the gates of Hell opening to swallow him whole, when I slammed my fists on the table and jumped up from my seat, knocking over my strawberry lemonade.

"S-So…Sorano-san?" He stuttered fearfully, clawing at the back of his seat as if he was trying to dig a hole through it so he could crawl away.

The look on my face would've appeared normal, had it not been for the maniacal smile that twitched uncontrollably and intense hate burning in my eyes.

"What…did you just say?"

"Uhm…Iruka…He…You…Kakashi…"

"_Romantic relationship_? **Kakashi**?! I can't believe this, this is unacceptable! What the _hell_ does he think I am?! I swear if I get my hands on him..!"

I whirled around swiftly as I began to mutter random threats to myself, leaving the people at bar to stare at my back fearsomely until I disappeared out of the bar and out of sight.

It was only then that Jiraiya thought of something very important.

"Oi! You're going to leave _me_ with the bill?!"

* * *

_You should've at least asked him where Iruka lives before storming off like that. _

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

_Oh right, ignore me. Why not._

**Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.**

_Someone's being a drama queen…_

"Ugh!" I grunted in annoyance as I paced around a little faster.

In my outburst of anger I had forgotten to beat (talk) Jiraiya into admitting Iruka's whereabouts and now I had somehow ended up at some deserted part of the town that was close to the local forest.

My feet dragged me over to a large flat rock where I roughly dropped my weight, then rested my elbows on my knees and lowered my chin onto my knuckles.

"Okay…What now, Einstein…" I muttered to myself under my breath although I knew that my options weren't exactly helpful.

Basically I could either go back to the bar and hope that Jiraiya hadn't run off yet (a _very_ non-existent possibility) or go back home to try and relieve myself of my irritation by devouring a very big bucket of chocolate…

The decision wasn't very hard to make.

"I guess I'll just hunt down Ero-sennin again tomorrow…Shouldn't be too hard when he's always spying on half naked-women…" I sighed as I leaned forward and stretched my arms to relax my muscles.

Then I leaned back again, placing my hands behind my back to support my weight and I simply sat there quietly. It felt a bit strange when my mind became completely empty and not a single thought of Iruka or Kakashi forced itself into my head.

I smiled a bit at the irony of it; if only this had happened while I'd been at the hot springs with Kurenai then maybe I could've relaxed more.

But no, I just had to run into Jiraiya who'd told me some crazy story about--

"..Miraiko?"

"Eh?" I looked up at the person who'd uttered my name.

Iruka was standing a few meters away from me with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his pants and he was wearing a slightly taken aback look on his face.

"Iruka?" I answered with the same surprise lingering in my voice as I stared at him blankly.

He blinked at me a couple of times before the look in his eyes grew visibly colder and he glanced away, his dark eyes facing the mossy ground.

"What are you doing here? This isn't a place to be wandering around alone--" He began to speak in that all too familiar belittling 'teacher' tone.

"You baka! What kind of a moron do you think I am?! Why didn't you tell me anything?!" I cut him off harshly, clearly catching him off guard because he nearly jumped at the sudden rise of my temper.

"_Baka_..? What are you talking about?!" He snapped back, looking slightly offended.

"You-You thought I was…God this is just too disgusting for words!" I trailed off with a bitter taste in my mouth, looking away distastefully.

"What? I don't know what you're talking about." He pressured irritably, frowning at me.

I glared at him, before closing my eyes and gritting my teeth. His frown deepened and he sent me an incredulous look.

"Well if you're not going to explain it, then I'm going to assume that you've just insulted me for no good reason and I don't find that very--"

"You thought Kakashi and I had a thing going on!"

At that statement, his dark eyes, if possible, darkened even further. "Who told you that?"

"Jiraiya did. And I still can't believe you actually thought that!" I replied in a disdainful tone, not bothering to pretend that I didn't find him an idiot for having those weird ideas.

He didn't appear to be very convinced of my truthful dislike towards the grey haired jounin, instead it seemed like my words only enhanced his scepticism.

"Are you denying it then?" He asked in a sarcastic voice, making me narrow my eyes at him.

"Of course it's not true. Do you honestly believe that I would get involved with him like THAT? That's just…ew." I bit back, disgust written all over my face.

"It didn't seem like you were thinking '_ew_' when you were together at Ichiraku." He responded coldly, turning his head away.

I gasped and nearly fell off the rock I was sitting on. "You were _spying_ on me?!"

"I wasn't spying on you! I just happened to notice you two **together** after you rejected my offer to go have ramen with me. And by the way you just responded, my suspicions must be true after all." He shot back bitterly.

I gaped at him, unable to comprehend why he was making such a big deal out this.

"So you're assuming that just because I had ramen with him it automatically means that he's also sharing his _bed_ with me?" I inquired incredulously.

He wasn't so quick with his snappy remarks after that question, as if he had to take his time to come up with a good excuse.

Though I hadn't really expected his next words to be so harsh.

"Well, as I remember it, you once said that running off with Deidara didn't appear such a bad idea so how am I supposed to know where your boundaries lie?" He answered monotonously, locking eyes with me again.

I was shocked into silence and for a moment I wasn't sure if I'd heard his words correctly.

"You seriously think that? What's next? You'll say that you think that I spent a 'romantic' night with that Akatsuki jerk_ too_?" I hissed back before letting out a bitter laugh.

His expression alone was enough to put a halt to my laughter.

My eyes narrowed further at him, then widened again after confirming that either he did think that I'd had a little 'fun' with the enemy while being away from Konoha, or he at least had some suspicions about it.

"Oh this is just great. Freaking unbelievable…You know, I've always known that men occasionally can be thick-headed morons but for you to be this stupid...Oh this is just freaking _wonderful_!"

I threw my hands up in the air, shaking my head disbelievingly.

Iruka remained silent, just watching me with those dark, piercing eyes of his. I also kept quiet, continuing to shake my head to myself frustratedly. After about ten minutes of just standing there, he spoke again.

"I'm going back now. You should go home too."

"Brendan Tanner."

He raised his eyebrows slightly. "…Excuse me?"

"The guy I gave my virginity to." I replied as I raised my head to face him again, calmly.

"_What?_--"

"It happened about a year and a half ago, when I was sixteen and he was eighteen. We just came back from celebrating our anniversary of being a couple for one year and we had the house all to ourselves." I continued, ignoring Iruka's confused rattling.

"He was a very nice boyfriend, my first one too. He was always very gentle with me and I loved him more than anyone else in the world. But a few months later we had to break up because his father had to move to a different country for his job."

I looked up at the sky as I went on, memories flooding through my mind.

"We did keep in touch by sending each other letters and stuff for a while, but it didn't work out in the end. The last thing I remember being told by him was that he had gotten a new girlfriend and that it would be better if we stopped talking to each other."

I paused for a moment.

"I haven't dated anyone ever since."

I looked away from the sky, turning my head to face Iruka.

"I'm sorry…" He murmured, looking like he wasn't sure what to say.

"Maa na, I just thought I'd share this with you." I said in a casual manner, smiling faintly.

"You still…?" He trailed off, though I could finish his question for him.

"Love him? Yeah, a little maybe, but not as much as before. I mean, it's sad that it didn't work out but I'm happy that he found someone new." I explained, nodding a bit to myself.

Iruka didn't say anything in response, so I continued. "Hmm…I guess we should head back now. Kakashi and Naruto are probably coming back from training soon anyway and I--"

"Wait." He cut in before I could finish my sentence, making me look at him curiously.

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry."

"Iruka, you already apologized. It's okay, it was just a misunderstanding and we were both too angry to--"

"No not for that…I…" He hung his head low, muttering something to himself that I couldn't hear because it was too soft.

"Uhm…What?" I asked as I slid off the rock that had served as my seat for the past moment and I approached him curiously.

"Miraiko?"

"Uh yeah?" I said slowly as he raised his head again.

"I'm sorry, but I think I'm in love with you."

I didn't even get the chance to fully process the meaning of his (love) confession when he cupped one of my cheeks and brought my face closer to his…


	27. Scene Twenty Seven

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. Reviews are appreciated.**

* * *

_This isn't happening…_

_This isn't happening…_

…_OH DEAR FREAKING GOD, IT ALREADY HAPPENED!!_

Imagine yourself to have just returned from an insane ride in a rollercoaster that kept making backflips like crazy, as if it was trying to make your brains fly out through your ears.

Then get hit by a train that knocks out the little sanity you have left and _then_ get trampled to dust by a dozen angry bulls.

Now imagine those horrors ten times worse and you'll be slightly close to how I'm feeling at the moment.

…

Seriously, what did I ever do to deserve this?!

"Kurenai…Yes, I should to go Kurenai. She'll know what to do." I told myself while breathing erratically, still shaken from a rather…**intense** memory that kept replaying in my mind.

Within a split second I was on the move again, using the road of a the small market as a shortcut to get to the raven haired woman's house as fast as possible.

My feet stumbled over several unknown objects as I forced myself to increase my running pace and pushed myself through the mass of people. I got yelled at disapprovingly a few times, but I didn't care about politeness right now.

The only thing I cared about was--

"Kurenai-saaaaan! I need your help, I don't know what to…!" I cried out breathlessly when I swung the front door of her house open with full force, only to stumble upon…

…Asuma and Kurenai who were currently entangled in a passionate embrace on the floor, their heads flying up in shock when they saw me standing in the doorway.

"…_do_." I finished in a meek voice, staring at the unnerving scene with wide eyes.

"Miraiko…chan?" Kurenai asked uncertainly, as she slid out of her lover's arms, sitting up and straightening her severely unbuttoned blouse. Asuma was blushing furiously and did the same with his own clothes, hastily zipping up his flak jacket.

_Oh dear God…Oh God…OH GOD. They were kissing, weren't they? Hell, of course they were kissing. Look at the lipstick on Asuma's face, it didn't crawl up his cheeks by itself now did it?!_

Then it hit me like the rollercoaster-ride I'd been stuck in not too long ago.

Kissing.

Iruka.

Kissing.

Iruka.

**Kissing Iruka**--

"KISS! _WHAT_?! AAH NO! THE MEMORIES!" I exclaimed hysterically, startling the two embarrassed adults who could make absolutely no sense of my broken sentences.

"Miraiko-chan! What are you--"

"I need to get out of here…Need to…Oh holy crap I can't take this." I carried on with the ridiculous chattering, nearly tripping over my own disorientated legs while I attempted to escape through the door.

Once I finally did escape, I took two robotic steps forward before turning around and throwing myself forward in an awkward bow.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you!" Then spun around almost drunkenly and ran away in the same hysterical manner as I'd entered the house.

Kurenai and Asuma, having completely lost their 'mood', exchanged blinks.

* * *

Many trips, stumbles, angry yells and shouts later, I miraculously found myself bumping into a certain grey haired jounin who had his nose stuck in his perverted book.

My legs must've been _really_ disorientated for dragging me to the one person I _least_ wanted to run into. However, regardless of the immediate urge to run away from him, my body refused to move after having to jump from one place to another so much.

So I moaned in defeat and sank to my knees, quietly cursing and sobbing because I had to do something to relieve myself of the stress that was zigzagging through my body.

"Ne, Miraiko-san, although I'm always flattered whenever a woman grovels at my feet in order to gain my undivided attention…"

_What are you talking about 'always'?! As if you get women lining up to kiss your ass every freaking day-- Oh hell he probably does…_

"…I can't help but wonder why you of all women would be so desperate to--"

"AHH I GIVE UP!" I wailed to no one in particular, firmly grabbing him by his waist and pressing my face into the front of his flak jacket.

A shiver ran over Kakashi's back at that very moment. There was a very distressed teenage girl clinging to his waist, who was rubbing her tear-stained face against him as if he were the only thing within reach that could comfort her.

And it was nowhere _near_ a pleasant feeling.

"Uhm…Miraiko?" The clueless jounin managed to bring out carefully, trying to hide his nervousness as he received strange looks from various by-passers.

"Too much stuff is happening! I need to talk to _someone_. I don't know what to think anymore. I don't know why you hate me, I don't know how to get home, I don't know what's gotten into Iruka-sensei and I don't know what to doooooo!"

I cried out through hiccups, my reply getting muffled by the fabric of his green vest.

I could only imagine the look of absolute discomfort that was, without a doubt, working it's way up Kakashi's face underneath his mask.

"..Eh?" Was the only thing he could offer as a reply.

"I want my _mommy_!" Was the only thing_ I_ could cry out before choking on my own breath and spiralling down in yet another outburst of tears.

Kakashi slowly felt his good reputation crumble as more by-passers stopped to point and stare at the crying teenager, who was still clinging to him in what must've appeared very inappropriate to any outsider.

* * *

Many outbursts of tears, pointing and stares, embarrassing pathetic cries and crumbling reputations later…

I sniffled and tried to pretend that my eyes were not swollen and red from crying so much, as Kakashi removed his flak jacket, wrinkling his nose in disdain at the sight of the still wet from (teenage snot) tears fabric.

"…Sorry about that." I mumbled, not even bothering to fight the shade of red that crept up my cheeks. Instead I leaned back against the couch further, gathering up my knees to hug.

Kakashi cleared his throat as if to catch my attention for something, which he did, before motioning for my pulled up knees with a light sideway shrug.

I blinked at him in confusion, then my eyes darted down to make the disturbing discovery that I was wearing a skirt today and anything underneath it was now on full display for…well Kakashi.

"AACK! God, why do bad things keep happening to me?" I shrieked, wildly throwing my legs off the couch and smoothening my skirt over my hips.

"That's what I'd like to know." The grey haired jounin answered dryly, tossing his flak jacket over the edge of the couch before sitting down next to me.

I looked away from him, creasing my eyebrows slightly. "I don't want to talk about it."

"That's not what you were screaming earlier…" He reminded, _teased_, me in a somewhat perverted, amused voice.

"Jeez don't say it like that! You make it sound like I announced my undying love for you or something." I bit back embarrassedly as I turned my head to glare at him.

His lazy gaze simply remained plastered on mine, the question 'so?' hanging in the air.

"…And that's really…weird. In a very wrong 'ew' sort of way." I attempted to argue weakly, probably with not much success.

"Is that so? Ah and here I am, feeling so flattered by the false affections of a beautiful young lady…" He sighed dramatically, although there was enough sarcasm present in his voice to notify me that he was only fooling around.

"Stop that." I simply ordered, failing miserably at trying not to smile.

A lazy grin seemed to tug at his lips underneath his mask when he locked eyes with me again, thankfully with a more serious look visible in his dark eyes this time. "If I do, will you tell me why you publicly destroyed my good name?"

"I didn't-- I mean, I didn't _mean_ to do that! It's just…I'm a mess right now and…" I silenced myself, unsure whether or not it was okay to confide in him.

"Never mind. You're not the right person to talk to…" I trailed off, shaking my head as I closed my eyes in conclusion.

Kakashi frowned at me, apparently going into ' strict supervisor' mode. "I'm the one watching over you, aren't I? You're supposed to talk to me about things that bother you--"

"_You_ bother me." I interrupted sharply. "How am I supposed to be able to talk to you honestly when you're the one who made it very clear that you don't want to become friends with me."

It was more of a statement than a question and when the jounin opened his mouth to argue, I ignored him and decided to tell him exactly why I had trouble with confiding in him.

"You're the one who said, and I quote, 'Does my opinion really matter?' and here's the answer. No, it **doesn't** matter. No, I don't care what you have to say and no, I don't care what you think of me, because apparently it's too damn hard for you to befriend me!"

"Miraiko--"

"Oh and another thing, if you don't like my face then to hell with your opinion too! I could care less about whether or not you think I'm ugly. Because I'm _not_, I won a freaking prize for prettiest toddler or whatever when I was five damnit!"

"Oi, will you--"

"No I will not!" I snapped at him, pausing to glare at him angrily.

"I'm sick of you. And I'm sick of Iruka and his stupid suspicions of me and you having a freaking r_elationship_! I'm sick of Iruka's cute face that keeps popping up in my head when he realized that we had nothing going on. I'm sick of hearing Iruka's voice replaying in my head from when he told me he loved me and when he tried to kiss--"

Oh God. It all came rushing back to me in one big mental bitch slap.

When the weight of reality crashed on top of me again, I saw that Kakashi's previously narrowed eyes had widened at least twice their size.

"..What did you just say?"

"Oh my God. Oh my God." I kept repeating to myself, slipping back into that dazed state of mind where everything that I didn't want to remember, taunted me.

I felt two hands gently take a hold of my shoulder, carefully turning me around so I met eyes with the wide-eyed jounin.

"Miraiko…What did you just say?" He asked again, only this slower and with more concern threaded into the question.

"Oh my God."

"…No not that. Before that."

"I'm sick of you."

"Yes I already got that part, but that's not what I meant either."

"Iruka…he…"

"Yes…?"

"I think I broke his nose."

Kakashi blinked at me in bewilderment, clearly not expecting that for an answer.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard that quite right…What?"

"His nose…Oh God. He'd just confessed that he…lo-_liked_ me and then he suddenly grabbed me and then the world began to spin because he was getting too close and I…panicked." I squeaked in a high-pitched cry.

Kakashi kept his grip on me gentle, but a little firmer when he asked for me to continue my explanation. "And then?"

"I'm so sorry! I couldn't stop myself, it was just happening way too fast and I didn't even have to perform any hand seals when a rock slammed into his face and…and…well.." I trailed off, although the jounin could probably finish the story by himself.

"Alright. Let me think for a minute.." The jounin closed his eyes, sucked in a deep breath, exhaled slowly and then locked eyes with me again.

"Where did you leave the body?"

"I think-- Wait, _body_?! You don't think I killed him, do you?!"

"No, no. Calm down, calm _down_."

"I can't calm down! Iruka confessed to me and I answered him by smashing a freaking hole in his face!"

"Hmm…That's not very nice, no."

"_Kakashi_!"

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry that was mean." The jounin waved away my half hurt, half annoyed face and removed one hand from my shoulders to pat my head somewhat comfortingly.

"We'll figure out a solution later. You don't appear to be capable of thinking rationally now…" He observed with a sigh, trailing his hand lower down my neck.

"But I can't just sit here--Oh…" I lost the ability to speak and to stay awake after something pressed hard against a certain spot in my neck, somehow making it oddly tempting to spontaneously fall asleep.

_Damn these ninjas and their lame pressure points! _Was the last thing that ran through my mind before I fainted against Kakashi's chest.

* * *

"Are you sure you got this injury...by walking into a _door_?"

"Yes."

"Really? Your nose looks pretty bad, so you must've walked into a door made out of steel or something rock-solid…Hmm speaking of rocks, it looks more like you got hit by one Miraiko-chan's--"

"No. Could you please heal it now?"

"…Alright." Haruno Sakura agreed, giving up on her little interrogation with her previous sensei, although…

She took a closer look at Iruka's injury while she healed it and it took all of her self-control not to laugh at the _square_ indent on his face that was still red with bruises. Her suspicions were only strengthened when she recalled that the stones of Miraiko's rather violent jutsu were also _red_.

She guessed that they'd ended up in yet another one of their squabbles with Miraiko as the obvious winner. Really, sometimes they reminded her of a married couple.

But that was a silly thought which she brushed off with a small chuckle.

Oh if she only knew…

Once she'd healed his face, Sakura waved him goodbye and went to visit another patient as Umino Iruka walked out of the hospital.

His poor soul was still severely bruised by the both mentally and physicall_y_ painful rejection he'd suffered, when he felt an eerie presence looming over him.

"Yo." It greeted plainly before dragging him into places unknown, with Iruka squirming and yelling bewilderedly at his captor.

* * *

Kakashi probably, no, he **definitely** had a smirk plastered underneath his damned mask upon watching the awkward situation he'd created.

I was lying in my bed, still groggy and sleepy. Which quickly changed when I saw a very dumbfounded chuunin hovering above my now wide awake form.

"Kakashi!" I immediately barked, turning my head just in time to catch a glimpse of the evil jounin who was staring back at me from the doorway, almost gleefully.

"Have fun working things out. And remember, be nice this time." And with that the gates of hell door slammed shut, taking Kakashi's presence with it.

I wanted to shoot imaginary daggers at the door for a while, hoping that maybe one of them would be sharp enough to dig through the wood and penetrate Kakashi's guts along the way, but Iruka drew my attention back to him.

"Uhm…" He mumbled, looking just as nervous on the outside as I was feeling on the inside.

"Eh…" I mumbled with him in unison, accidentally meeting eyes with him.

We both laughed nervously at the way we couldn't find the right words, which sort of made it easier to breathe in the tense air. I was the first who dared to speak.

"How's your nose?"

"It's doing better…Sakura healed it at the hospital."

"Oh I see. So it doesn't hurt too much?"

"Yeah."

"That's good."

"Mhm."

"Uh so how is Sakura doing? I didn't really get the chance to talk to--"

"Uhm Miraiko…I don't think Kakashi brought me here to talk about _Sakura_." Iruka cut in gently, apparently already foreseeing that I was going to try to change the subject.

"Oh." I replied dumbly, that being the only word I was capable of pronouncing properly at the moment.

He sat down on the end of my bed, slightly causing me move away to create more distance. I did it automatically, instinctively, but he didn't seem to mind.

"Well, what _do_ you want to talk about then?" I prompted, knowing very well what we were supposed to talk about, but not really feeling brave enough to start the conversation myself.

"Actually I didn't come here to talk.." He looked up at me with a nervous smile.

I instantly backed away, suddenly feeling very vulnerable with only a thin blanket to shield myself from him. Iruka, being the slow-to-catch-up-with-things man he is, finally caught up with my train of thoughts and blushed.

"N-No! I didn't mean it like _that_. I mean…Kakashi sort of caught me off guard by dragging me here and I don't really know what to say." He explained quickly, still very pink on his cheeks.

"Oh." Again that ever so 'intelligent' reply left my lips.

We were both silent for a while, neither of us willing to make the first move.

_Or rather the first letter. Word. Sentence. Oh God this is driving me nuts…_

I thought, getting slightly irritable and I was barely prepared when all of a sudden Iruka decided to open his mouth and formulate the hardest question he could ask right now.

"Miraiko-chan, I have to know…Why…did you reject me?"

I blinked at him, stared at him, gaped at him. Heck I did everything except for answering him.

"Miraiko?" He tried again, this time reaching out to touch my hand, making me flinch a little.

"Isn't it obvious?" I muttered, slowly clenching the hand he was holding into a fist.

His soft expression hardened, making him look less understandable and kind than usual.

"No it isn't obvious! Nothing seems obvious or easy when I'm talking to you. You're the most difficult woman I've ever met and I don't understand how I ever fell in love with you!" He snapped back, his temper rising quickly.

"Why did you then? It would've saved us both much trouble if you hadn't!" I hissed bitterly, jerking my clenched fist away from his hand.

He gritted his teeth, leaning away from me though keeping his glare attached to me.

"Why? Why Miraiko? Is it the age difference? Don't I look good enough? Am I too much of a _softy_? Oh why am I even asking this, of course you--"

"It's because I'm not '_Miraiko_'!" I shouted back, the echo of my voice roaring over the walls of my room and through his ears.

He stared at me, taken aback. "What are you saying?"

I swallowed back a sob, knowing for sure that I'd lose the ability to speak properly if I gave in to crying, and grabbed a handful of my hair.

"Green. Do you see this Iruka? _Green_ hair. My hair isn't green, **my** hair is black."

Then I pointed at my emerald green eyes.

"My eyes aren't green. **My** eyes are blue."

I pointed at my face.

"This isn't my face. This is Sorano Miraiko's face. A face of a fictional character that I made up with a name that doesn't belong to me. My name is…" I trailed off, biting my lip because I wasn't confident enough to try and see if I could say it.

"My name_ doesn't exist here_."

His arm slipped around my shoulder in an instant, putting a halt to whatever else I was going to say and I tried to shake it off, but he didn't allow it and pulled me into a hug instead.

I struggled, but gave in when he proved himself to be stronger than me.

So I cried and spilled my heart to him, because it was the only thing I could do then.

"I'm sorry. It's not that I think you're too old or not good looking enough, I just don't like you in that way…And even if I did, it just would work out."

"Miraiko.."

"It _wouldn't_." I insisted strongly, sensing the argument behind the tone of his voice.

"You and I are from different worlds with different ways of living. Different people. I ended up in this world by accident and I still don't know why, but I _want_ to know and I don't even know how to find _that _out."

His hand had started to stroke my back, running up and down over the skin softly, comfortingly, and for a moment I felt safe with him being so close.

Still I longed for that other feeling of safeness. In the place where I felt at ease the most.

"I just want to go home."


	28. Scene Twenty Eight

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land.**

Scribble. Scribble. Scribble.

I'd like to take a minute to thank everyone who has reviewed this story.

Thanks a bunch Friglit, furuba8080, tomato sauce, Lilly Rune, Meira Evenstar, SilentConfessions and akumaherutsu!!

You're all awesome.

* * *

I waited patiently as Tsunade continued to write down notes in the thick notebook that lay open in front of her on her desk. Kakashi was also in her office, leaning against the wall beside the door with his arms folded over his chest.

Scribble. Scribble.

My eyes wandered away from the fifth Hokage's form to settle on the window, where the scenery of the town captured my attention. I was chewing on my lip compulsively, trying to get rid of my anxiousness.

Scribble.

"Alright Miraiko-san, lets just keep it simple and start from the beginning…" The pen in her hand was tossed carelessly beside the notebook when Tsunade opened her mouth to speak.

"You were at home, minding your own business. And then?"

I nodded faintly, stopping my assault on my bottom lip to speak. "Okay, well I was sort of watching you…err…your future through this thing that's called a 'computer' in my world. I was just watching Kakashi and Naruto who were pursuing after Deidara when suddenly I got dizzy and everything around me got all blurry and out of place..."

"Continue." She ordered, picking up her pen again to take more notes.

"…Then I somehow ended up in the sky and I crashed on top of Deidara, sending us both down to the ground. And that's basically how I got here."

"Hn…And did anything specific or peculiar occur during that time?" She prodded, glancing up at me expectantly.

I shook my head, hanging my head a little. "Not that I can remember…It happened very fast and I didn't have the chance to really pay attention to what was going on."

"What exactly did you see or do right before everything around you disappeared?" She inquired patiently.

_Ugh good question. Hmm…Kakashi and Naruto caught up a little with Deidara…Deidara's arm was in the process of getting sucked into the dimensional space…Wait..._

"Dimensional space…?" I murmured out loud to myself, knotting my eyebrows together.

"Miraiko-san? You remembered something?" Tsunade asked, sounding anxious.

"Deidara was supposed to lose one of his arms in the dimensional space that Kakashi created with his mangekyou sharingan." I continued to talk to myself, putting my hand under my chin while the memories ran through my mind.

"…Dimensional space. _Dimension_." My eyes widened and I raised my head to face her again, then quickly turned around to look at Kakashi who sent me a curious look.

"Could it be possible that when you opened some sort of…gate to _my _dimension when you were using mangekyou sharingan on Deidara?"

The copy-ninja's visible eye widened widely at this and he blinked blankly at me, before uttering a sound of realization. "Of course! Why didn't I think of this sooner?"

Tsunade sent him a curious look, raising her eyebrows. "Is that really possible Kakashi?"

He nodded determinedly, looking very convinced of the possibility. "It is a very likely possibility. Despite the fact that I can use the sharingan freely, I don't have as much control over it like a real Uchiha. And at that time I had only recently developed the mangekyou sharingan, leaving it unstable."

"This is great! So all you need to do is use the mangekyou sharingan on me and I can get back home right?!" I jumped up from my chair excitedly, almost literally beaming with relief.

His expression faltered slightly when he see the look of hope on my face. "I'm sorry Miraiko-san, but that's not possible. If I were to use the mangekyou sharingan on you, there's no telling where I'd send you to. You could end up in a completely different world."

"Wh…What…?" I stopped smiling, lowering the arms I'd lifted to cheer. "But can't you control it now? You can learn how to decide which dimension you'll send to me or something right? There's got to be **some way** to--"

"I can't." He interrupted me apologetically.

My expression deadened. All the colour in my face got drained and my legs felt weak, threatening to buckle as the brief, tiny moment of hope got shattered.

"But it can't be like this! I want to go home! There has got to be some way to get me back home! I don't want to spend the rest of my life here!" I practically screamed at him, traces of tears blurring my view.

"I'm sorry." He murmured silently, his eyes softening at my helpless attempt to argue.

"No! I don't want you to feel sorry, I want you to fix this! I won't believe that there's nothing you can do. There has to be _something_!" I cried back, breaking into a sob.

My shoulders shook violently while I tried to fight against the overwhelming wave of despair that washed over me with tears running down my cheeks.

"Kakashi. Are you absolutely sure that there is no way to..?" Tsunade asked carefully, seeming a bit disturbed and unsure of what to do around me while I was like this.

The copy-ninja kept quiet for a while, deeply in thought. "There _is_ something but…"

"W-What?" I hiccupped through sobs, glancing up at him through teary eyes.

"I opened the dimensional space to your dimension, but I never closed it. There is a possibility that the gate is still open in the area where you crashed." Kakashi explained, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"God why didn't you say so sooner! You got me all worried and crying for nothing!" I exclaimed in displeasure through hiccups, wiping my cheeks dry with my hands.

Seriously, why did it seem like that man was always so hell-bent on getting on my nerves?

"It's only a small possibility. And you can't get your hopes up about it too much. Even if it is still open, the area over there is so large that the gate could be _anywhere_."

"I don't care! As long as the possibility is there then that means that I can't give up yet." I retorted stubbornly, beginning to regain myself.

For once I was actually glad to be so stubborn. This could be my chance to finally go **home**. My chance to reunite myself with my mom, my dad and hell, reuniting myself with my annoying Shikamaru-obsessed sister sounded like heaven too.

_Yes. I'm definitely going to find that gate even if it's the last thing I do!_

"Alright. I'll organise for a few ninja to scout the area. But Kakashi I will need you there too, do you think Naruto would mind pausing your training for a short while?" Tsunade suggested, a wry smile on her lips.

Kakashi chuckled, knowing that she already knew the answer to that. "I doubt that he'll be pleased…but I'm sure he'll understand."

"Great! I'm going to do my best to find that damned gate too then!" I shouted, punching the air for more emphasis.

"No you're not. I can't permit you to leave this village."

…Oh hell no she didn't.

"What?! _Why_? I don't pose a threat or anything!" I protested disbelievingly, sending her a whiny look that she dismissed with a stern glare.

"It's not that I believe _you_ pose a threat. But you need to understand that I can't risk having you run around unattended while Akatsuki is still around. You haven't forgotten what happened the last time, right?" She answered irritably, probably annoyed by the memories of the troublesome event.

_But Deidara let me go free out of his own will! He doesn't want me anymore! …Oh wait, but you don't know that. Damnit why did he have to insist on keeping his 'evil' reputation? _I thought sulkily as I slumped back into my seat.

"You will remain here. And that's final."

With that the Hokage sent me one last warning gaze, indirectly telling me 'you'd better not leave the village without my approval or I'll make sure that you'll go through hell like you've never been before'.

So being the displeased brat I was, I answered with a grumpy: "_Fine_."

* * *

"NOOOOOOOO! YOU CAN'T CUT MY TRAINING WITH KAKASHI-SENSEI SHORT! I WILL NOT ACCEPT IT DATTEBAYO!"

Flames burned viciously in the glaring blue eyes that sent me a resentful look of disapproval, the blonde spikes blowing up with the wind dramatically and a stomach growled loudly as if to put more emphasis on the boy's great discomfort.

He only briefly paused his loud shouts when a bowl of hot ramen got placed in front of him by Ichiraku's waitress Ayame, momentarily distracting him.

"I have to catch up with Sasuke-teme soon, dattebayo! I need Kakashi-sensei here. I will not accept it, never! I'll fight you for it if I have to!" He continued through slurps, looking more than determined to win the argument.

Although there wasn't much of an argument to begin with. Tsunade had already made the plans, but that didn't keep Naruto from protesting against it. Fiercely.

**Annoyingly.**

I sent Kakashi, who was sitting on my right, a helpless look. He merely smiled faintly at me from under his mask, clearly not feeling up to the hopeless task of engaging in an argument with his most headstrong student.

Because everyone knew that once Naruto had made up his mind about something, no one would be able to convince him of anything else.

But still, it couldn't hurt to try.

With a reluctant sigh, I turned back to Naruto, who was busy devouring his meal.

"Ne Naruto…I _really_ need Kakashi to do this for me. You can have him back as soon as he's done. It won't take that long, I promise!" I pleaded in a super sickeningly sweet voice, trying my best to appear calm and collected.

Maybe if I tried to appear more mature he'd give in like a normal person would.

"No." He replied bluntly, grinning at me cheekily before resuming his assault on his ramen.

I smiled awkwardly, trying to keep my 'mature' image.

Maybe being more _polite_ would do the trick.

"Please Naruto? I'd be so grateful!"

"_No_." Another blunt reply, followed by a cheeky grin and an added childish appearance of his tongue pointing at me.

My eye twitched.

_Okay, screw politeness and maturity. I'm going to do this the old-fashioned way!_

"Why are you such a stubborn jerk?! I need Kakashi NOW! GIVE HIM TO ME DAMNIT!" I slammed my fists on the table and leapt out of my seat, surprising the blonde.

"No! My training is more important dattebayo--OI! GIVE ME BACK MY RAMEN!"

"I'll give it back if you lend me Kakashi! I only need to borrow him for like a week or so!"

"NO! HE'S MINE! NOW GIVE ME BACK MY RAMEN MIRAIKO-TEME!"

"THEN GIVE ME KAKASHI!"

"NEVER!"

Naruto erupted in some kind of primal war cry before lunging at me, attempting to steal his bowl back but I cleverly avoided him and jumped on top of bar table.

I held up the bowl high in the air, dangling it suggestively at a very dangerous angle while grinning down at him mischievously.

He narrowed his eyes at me, sending me a daring look. "You wouldn't dare…"

"Oh I think I _would_." I cackled evilly before completely turning over the bowl, pouring the hot noodle soup over his head.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT YOU EVIL KAKASHI-STEALING-TEME!"

"BRING IT ON BLONDIE! YOU'LL NEVER GET ME!"

Naruto threw himself at me for a second time, this time sending us both crashing on the hard floor while screaming and pounding on each other childishly.

Kakashi had never felt so wanted before.

"JUST GIVE UP ALREADY! TSUNADE-SAMA ALREADY MADE HIM MINE ANYWAY!"

"NO HE'S MINE! **MINE **DATTEBAYO!"

The jounin grimaced at the choice of words. What was he? A piece of _meat_?

* * *

"Oi…Miraiko-teme…He's still mine…Dattebayo…"

"No…He's not…He is…ugh…_mine_."

About an hour of immature battles later, Naruto and I were both heavily panting outside on the ground, gasping for air. We were both covered in sweat, bruises and scratches and looked like we'd just returned from a civil war.

Kakashi, being the sneaky but wise bastard he was, had run off somewhere to hide after we got kicked out of Ichiraku for disturbing the peace. We'd been too busy with our little disagreement to notice him leaving.

My legs felt too sore to move (that blonde bastard practically kicked them to pulp) so I carefully got on my hands and knees instead and slowly crawled to the nearest tree to lean against with my back.

Naruto was hanging limply over a large rock with his stomach, looking equally sore.

He was glaring at me, or at least trying to but it looked more like an annoyed pout and I couldn't help but to laugh at his expression. He frowned at me, moving up slightly to rest his weight on his elbows.

"Oi…What are you laughing about, teme?"

"Nothing…Just making sure to never forget this moment. Getting into such a stupid fight with you was one of the least things I'd expected to do in my life. I think I'll never be able to walk straight again." I laughed softly, smiling amusedly at him.

He blushed slightly, looking embarrassed. "Well you're the one who started it."

"I know and I'm sorry…I guess I just want to get home fast now that I finally know that there's a way out." I murmured dazedly, looking up at the sky to see clouds drifting.

He was unusually quiet then, but I didn't question it and continued to stare at the sky, caught up in a dreamy daze.

"Ne Miraiko-teme…"

"Hm?" I hummed questioningly, not moving.

"I suppose I could let you could borrow Kakashi-sensei for a short while…" He murmured hesitatingly, looking both reluctant and embarrassed.

I turned my head to look at him, catching a brief glimpse of his red face right before he turned it away from me shyly.

I smiled faintly. "Thank you. You'll have him back before you know it."

"Good. 'Cause I'm not going to forgive you if this is going to effect my training badly! You'd better be grateful dattebayo!" He exclaimed loudly, pointing a threatening finger at me.

"Yeah, yeah. I'd fear the consequences if I were not." I waved him off dismissively, feeling an amused grin tugging at the corners of my lips. Then I sent him a serious look. "Ne, we should probably go back home now…"

Naruto seemed slightly uneasy about that. I sent him a curious look. "What's wrong?"

"Can't…move…You fight nasty." He commented, grinning wryly.

"Well you're not exactly a gentleman either!" I retorted amusedly, laughing at him.

"Not like you're much of a lady either."

"If you start with me again, I won't lend you my shoulder to lean on." I teased, getting up from the ground to move towards him.

"As if I need your help to walk! I can walk--OW!" He seemed to forget that he was still covered in bruises and nearly collapsed when he tried to walk away from the rock.

I grinned slyly, giving him a knowing look. "You were saying?"

He threw a small glare me, before rolling his eyes and finally giving up.

"…Fine. Lend me your shoulder."

"I think you can ask it nicer than that…"

"OI! Teme, I may not be able to walk, but I can still kick your ass!"

I could only laugh at that as I extended my hand to him.

* * *

"Ow. Try to be a little more gentle please." I scolded Kakashi as he continued to wrap bandages around my injured arm.

"Haha, well that's what you get for arguing with Naruto I suppose. How did he end up by the way?" The grey haired man asked in amusement while he reached for some disinfective medicine.

"I basically had to _carry _him home. He kept moaning about how I was a nasty fighter and how I didn't fight fair. I think he'll be alright though. He's a fast healer anyway." I shrugged, unable to hold back a grin.

"I see…Well, I guess it's good that he agreed in the end."

"Yeah I guess." I nodded, wincing in pain slightly when he smeared some of the medicine over a wound on my knee.

Kakashi paused for a moment, still rubbing over the wound. "And Iruka?"

"He…I haven't talked to him yet. Not since yesterday, you know when I…" I trailed off, guilt stabbing me in the heart.

"I think he's going to keep avoiding me for now. It's probably going to be better that way too. Maybe he'll find someone new eventually." I mumbled more to myself than to the copy-nin, sadness evident in my voice.

"I doubt that he's going to get over a pretty young girl like you anytime soon…You're quite good at giving people rather _unforgettable_ impressions." The copy-nin teased, making me scowl at him.

Then the meaning of his words suddenly became more obvious to me.

"Wait…Pretty? I thought that you said that I'm…ugly." I asked slowly, receiving a confused look in reply.

"Ugly? I never called you that." He stated, looking genuinely puzzled.

"You did…sort of. That time when I asked you what you didn't like about me. You said that you didn't like my face." I corrected him, mentally cringing at the memory.

His eyes widened in realization and he made an 'oh' sound. And then a louder '_oooooooh_' before laughing at me. I narrowed my eyes at him, not seeing the funny part of it.

"What's so funny?"

"You misunderstood me."

"Well what _did_ you mean by not liking my face then? God, I feel like I never get what you're really saying. You're such a complicated person." I pointed out, giving him an exasperated look.

He just stared at me for a minute, looking like he was thinking whether or not he wanted to give me a more direct answer.

"You really want to know?"

"Yes. Please." Kakashi sighed deeply, removing his hand from my knee and getting up from the floor so he could sit down next to me on the sofa.

"Your face reminds me of someone…Someone I used to argue with a lot and I only began to appreciate him more when it was already too late…" The look in his eyes hardened a little, as if he was thinking about the last moment he'd spent with that person.

"Him? It was a boy?" I asked cautiously. It looked he'd rather not be talking about the subject.

"Yes…Your expressions are quite similar. When you're angry…happy…surprised…messing up things…doing stupid reckless things…grinning like an idiot…" He began to mutter broken sentences to himself, seeming lost in his memories.

I swallowed, preparing to speak. "…Was that person Uchiha Obito?"

At the mentioning of his name, Kakashi froze for a second, but then he relaxed and nodded.

"Uhm…I'm sorry. I never realized it…" I answered apologetically as I lowered my eyes to the floor, not really expecting this for an answer.

This whole time I'd thought that he really thought that I was ugly…but there was a much bigger reason for the way he behaved around me.

"Ne, is this also the reason that you told me that it wasn't your job to befriend me?" I asked curiously, raising my head to gaze up at him again.

He stared at me for a moment, giving it thought. "…No, I'm just not really looking new buddies if that's what you mean--"

"_Kakashi_." I interrupted sharply, sending him a pleading look.

_Will you please give me a normal answer, just for this once._

He gave me a mix of a somewhat helpless and annoyed look, then sighed again and ran a hand through his hair.

"…Yes. I thought that it would be awkward to allow myself to get close to you when you remind me of the past so much." He admitted honestly.

"Thank you. That's what I wanted to know." I replied, offering him a small thankful smile.

"Just don't let this affect your usual behaviour. It's not your fault that you remind me of him, so don't try to change your personality or anything." He told me with sternness in his tone.

"I won't. Too stubborn for that." I joked, grinning childishly.

He gave me a wry smile, looking faintly amused. But he was still looking at me with a somewhat dazed expression, as if he was unconsciously still comparing me to his deceased best friend.

_Wait…If Obito was his best friend…And I, being __female__, remind him of his male best friend that he cherished so much…Oh Hell, does that mean that maybe he--_

"Uhm…Kakashi, just one more thing."

"What is it?" He snapped out of his daze, becoming semi-serious again.

"You don't get…weird _thoughts_ when you compare me to him…right?" I asked uneasily.

A masked smile was the only thing I got in reply.

…

Damn this horrible man and his evil, indirect, suggestive answers!!


	29. Scene Twenty Nine

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto land.**

I dedicate this chapter to Yuki-chan, because she's simply awesome. And a genius. _And _a kickass writer.

Note: This chapter isn't one of my best...I had some trouble summoning the desired creativity for it, so it may not be as funny as you've grown used to...

GOMENASAI!

* * *

_Boring. So booooooooooooring. I'm __seriously going to die a slow, painful death at this rate. _

_Death by boredom I tell you!_

I let out a heavy, weary sigh as I pressed my forehead against the window, staring enviously at the people outside who were working, shopping, talking and basically spending their time useful. Unlike me.

About a week had passed since Tsunade launched the big 'find the gate to Miraiko's dimension' project. The whole thing started with a positive outlook.

However, every night Kakashi would come back home to inform me that he and the team of investigators hadn't made any progress. Then I'd hang my head low and nod in disappointment, resulting in him patting my shoulder comfortingly and telling me that he'd find a clue eventually.

But even I could see that he grew less confident of that promise with each passing day.

Even worse was that the period of time of my 'punishment' had ended and I no longer had to help out Kurenai with her chores. Though I did try to convince her that I actually liked helping her out, but she insisted that I'd spend my free time on more _fun_ things.

Which was hardly possible, considering the fact that most of the other people I liked to hang out with were all busy with more important things.

Kakashi was on the endless quest for 'my dimension'.

Iruka was still avoiding me as if I carried some sort of lethal disease.

Naruto had resumed his training with Yamato instead of Kakashi for a while.

Sakura was too occupied with improving her medical skills.

Nobody really had the time to bother with me…

_Maybe I should give Deidara a call or something. Go on one of our explosive dates. Oh wouldn't that be lovely… _I snorted at the sarcastic thought, moving away from the window.

My gaze fell on the ridiculously clean living room. I had tidied it up at least eleven times to save myself from boredom. Doing chores was pretty much the only thing I could do to keep myself busy, but starting a** twelfth** cleaning-frenzy would just be insane.

Not that eleven times is any healthier…

..But still!

What else am I supposed to do in this Godforsaken place?

_Go outside and check out hot guys for old times sake!_

I glanced back at the window thoughtfully, letting the suggestion sink in. It actually wasn't such a bad idea…I used to go to the mall or the park with friends just to drool at random good looking guys all the time.

Surely Kakashi wouldn't mind if I went out for a bit, right?

_Oh what the heck__, I can always tell him I went shopping or something. If I stay here for any longer, I'll go mental. _

"Drooling at hot guys it is!" I cheered, smiling happily as I leapt off the couch.

* * *

"Oh…Ooh…Oooooooooooh! Hehehehe…"

_You're starting to show a creepy resemblance to Jiraiya. Stop it._

Hidden safely behind a few bushes, I desperately tried to get a grip on myself, but I couldn't help but to giggle like an idiot.

Before me, completely unaware of the giggling perverted teenager who was drooling at them, stood a group of **shirtless** male ninjas who were practising their aim with tossing shuriken and kunai at trees.

It was a group of five; one middle aged man who appeared to be a teacher or team leader of sorts and four younger guys who couldn't be older than sixteen…maybe eighteen.

_Oh bless the unbearable summer heat that makes guys pull off their shirts…_ I grinned mischievously, silently thanking Kishimoto Masashi, the manga author, for making Konoha a sunny place where it apparently never gets cold.

Using my elbows and knees, I slowly shifted my body to the left a little while carefully pushing leafs out of the way that blocked my view.

"Oh yes. Keep going boys…Hehehe…"

I blinked. Despite holding the same enthusiasm, that giggle did not belong to me.

I moved a little more to the left, accidentally bumping elbow against something more soft than the thick branches I was pushing away and almost instantly the voice that was responsible for the giggle yelped in surprise.

"Uwaah! Who's there?" Leafs rustled and a few fell in my hair as the person, most likely female, began to work her way towards me.

I had to stifle a gasp by clamping my hand over my mouth when bright blue eyes and long blonde hair that strangely reminded me of Deidara's came into view.

"_Ino_?!"

The blonde blinked at me, then her eyes widened. "You!…You're Mirayo…Mireko…Ahh whatever your name is, what are you _doing_ here?!"

"It's _Miraiko_ and I can ask you the same thing!" I corrected, sending her the same confused look.

"Well I was…Uhm…Oh!" She stuttered, then quickly grabbed a daisy. "Picking flowers for my mother's flower shop!...Yeah…that." She laughed nervously.

"You picked out a very odd place to look for flowers." I pointed out with a faint amusement, knowing very well that picking flowers was the last thing on her mind.

She rolled her eyes at me, tossing the white flower over her shoulder carelessly. "Okay fine, I was looking at those guys over there…"

Then she looked at me thoughtfully, an evil grin curling up her lips. "And what are _you_ doing here? Quite an odd place to control lethal jutsu, ne?"

"I already learned to control my jutsu a long time ago." I retorted, a bit annoyed. She gave me a expectant look, as if she were waiting to hear the real reason for my presence.

I sighed, scratching the back of my neck. "Everyone I usually to hang out with is too busy to bother with me right now so I thought I'd check out guys…or something."

At that comment she burst out into fits of loud giggles, muffling her laughter by holding her hand in front of her mouth. "Who knew the future girl was such a pervert!"

I narrowed my eyes at her slightly. "Well, you're not exactly innocent either for coming here--"

**STAB****. STAB. STAB.**

Ino and I shrieked in high-pitched voices when all of a sudden three kunai had implanted themselves in the ground, barely inches away from piercing our arms.

"Oi you two! Trespassers aren't allowed here!" A gruff male voice yelled at us, making us gulp at the same time.

"What do we do now--" I tried to ask, but got cut off when Ino roughly pulled me up to stand and exposed herself and me to the small group of men who were sending us irritated looks.

"Ahahaha! Gomen, gomen…We were just taking a little stroll when we happened to pass you by and we were _so_ impressed by your hot bodies--err amazing skills!" She laughed nervously, battering her eyelashes at them innocently.

"That's not going to work this time Yamanaka Ino! I believe it's time you learned a lesson in decency!"

I turned my head to stare at Ino in confusion. "They know you?"

"Hehe...Yeah sort of. I just can't seem to keep away. They really should appreciate my interest more instead of yelling at me like that though." The blonde admitted, sounding like she came here all the time.

"Okay…Well lets get out of here before they--"

**STAB. STAB. STAB. STAB. STAB. ****STAB.**

"--KYAAAAAAAAHH! STOP THE WAR! WE'LL LEAVE IN PEACE!!"

I screamed as Ino and I both jumped into opposite directions to avoid another wave of kunai raining down on us.

"Oushiro no jutsu!" I yelled, performing hand seals as I went, and a large red wall dropped down out of the sky to prevent the sharp objects from reaching us.

"Ah I see you've really learned to control it now. Good for you, perverted future girl." Ino praised with a cheeky grin, walking towards me casually while inspecting the barrier.

"I'd really appreciate if you didn't call me that…" I remarked, hoping that she wasn't planning on using that nickname more often.

"Haha! Sure, sure, whatever you want, Miraiko-san." She waved it off with a smile, then linked arms with me and put her index finger to her lips.

"Hmm…Now where was that waterfall where those _other_ hot guys trained again…?"

* * *

_Dear God…I've never ran so fast in my entire life…_

My breathing was uneven and my chest was rising and falling heavily as I shuffled back to Konoha tiredly, occasionally pausing to lean against a tree to catch my breath a little.

It appeared that Ino had a habit of spying on hot guys who had a habit of noticing her presence when she least expected it, which frequently resulted in a storm of kunai hailing down on her.

And me, considering the fact that she'd dragged along on her dangerous 'safari' as she liked to call it. She told me that she did it at least four times a week, so basically she was running for her life almost _every day_.

..No wonder she stayed so slim and fit.

Note to self: Must stay away from blondes who have hobbies that may--no **will**-- end in death.

_God…Walking back home is gonna take ages. Kakashi is gonna kill me with one his super lectures…Ahh I wish I could fly or something…_

I thought sourly, looking up at the sky as I recalled an argument I had with Kakashi about two or three days ago.

_'__Why can't I train with Naruto and Yamato? I've got wind chakra too! Maybe I'll come up with a good jutsu!' _

'_You're not going to train with them. You may possess basic skills, but you're not even at genin level yet. Trying to utilize your wind chakra would just be a waste of time.' Kakashi declined sternly._

_'But I'm going to die out of boredom or something if I'm stuck here all the time!'_

_'You're not a ninja.'_

_'But what am I supposed to do then?'_

_'I'm sure you'll figure out something.' He smiled lazily before exiting the house and leaving me standing there with an annoyed expression._

I wrinkled my nose in displeasure at the memory, kicking a rock on the ground.

What did 'not being a ninja' have to do with trying to escape boredom? It's not like I wanted to create some scary mass-killing jutsu to chop off people's heads or something.

_Trying to fly would be nice though…_

I blinked, glancing to my left and my right a few times. No one was around.

A grin crept up my face.

I held out my arms and spread them wide.

"SUPER MIND BLOWING…ehh…CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING BETTER NO JUTSU! **FLY!**"

…

…

…

Okay so that didn't work.

Hmm, can't say I didn't try though--

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

Oh crap.

* * *

Sarutobi Asuma took a deep breath and smiled pleasantly.

It was his day off and he was really looking forward to spending some quality time with Kurenai. He'd already stopped by the flower shop to buy her favourite roses.

Although he'd been a bit surprised when he saw that Ino wasn't there to help customers.

Her mother was there instead, telling him endless stories about how her precious daughter had grown into a beautiful young woman and how the boys always showered the blonde with compliments.

He shook his head in amusement as he rummaged through his pocket to grab a cigarette.

Teenage girls were so--

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! LOOK OUT LOOK OUT LOOK OOUUUUUUUUUUUT!!"

Asuma frowned, briefly taking his eyes off his cigarette and his lighter. People who'd been walking peacefully a minute ago were now screaming in terror and running away for some reason.

"Hm?-- OOF!"

A cigarette hit the ground dramatically as something heavy and --was that grass?-- smashed against Asuma. He took hold of the first thing that came in sight and spun around swiftly, encasing the impact with any strength he could summon after being caught off guard so suddenly.

When he steadied himself again, his hands still clenched firmly around whatever he was holding, he noticed that he'd been sent reeling backwards a few meters because of the impact.

Fortunately no one had gotten hurt in the process and he sighed in relief.

"Uhm…Could you please let go of my hair?"

"Eh?" He blinked, looking down to see that the green thing he'd seen was not grass, but it was _hair_-- "Whoa! Miraiko-san is that you?! Are you feeling alright?"

I rolled back on the ground when he let get of my hair, rubbing my sore head.

"Yeah…" Cough. "Peachy."

"What on earth were you doing?" Asuma demanded in bewilderment, extending his hand to help me up.

A dazed grin was still vaguely present when I answered him.

"I kinda flew."


	30. Scene Thirty

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto Land.**

**SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER!!**

**ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT!!**

This chapter contains major spoilers from the manga, so proceed if you're okay with that or risk finding out something you'd rather not find out yet...

This chapter involves Hidan and Kakuzu from the Akatsuki and the battle with Asuma, Shikamaru and rest of the team.

Uhm...The scenes in this chapter change rapidly too, so keep in mind to read everything thoroughly so you won't be confused and think 'what the hell is going on here?!'

_Also_, this story is nearing it's end. It's sad but true. The next chapter will (most likely) be the FINAL scene.

I am thinking of writing a (short) sequel, but I'm **not** promising you anything.

Other than that...

HAPPY READING!!

* * *

"I almost got it right, I think. One more time!"

"Oi, we've been doing this for three hours already. Aren't you ready for a break yet?"

"Nope! Just tell me when to insert the wind chakra and keep track of what I'm doing right and wrong." I chirped cheerfully as I leapt into the air to jump on top of a tree.

Asuma made an annoyed face.

"…You do realize that I'm spending the precious free time, which I meant to save for _Kurenai_, with you, right? Be a little more considerate." He inquired moodily, sulking.

"Yes, and I'm very grateful that you invited me to your house so willingly to help me train, Asuma-_sensei_." I grinned cheekily as I turned around after I landed on top of the branch of the large tree that hovered above Asuma's apartment.

"It wasn't exactly willingly. You invited _yourself_." He pointed out, still looking annoyed.

I laughed faintly, recalling the slightly embarrassing way that consisted of lots of begging, grovelling, pulling on legs and more begging in which I managed to convince Asuma to help me with the jutsu that I'll dub 'Flying technique' for now.

Ever since I accidentally produced the jutsu and literally **flew **all the way back to the centre of Konoha, I'd been trying to recreate the technique, but for now I could only make large leaps, because staying in the air didn't work yet.

I guessed that this technique was like the other two; Oushiro no Jutsu and Iwa no Boufuu. Unconsciously I somehow knew them all, but due to lack of practice, I couldn't control them correctly yet.

Which was why I needed Asuma.

"Please don't get mad at me, you're basically the only person in this whole village who knows to control wind type jutsu. And you're the one who told me that this is a wind type jutsu." I told the troubled man as he stared up at me from below.

He sighed and took a drag of the cigarette that hanging loosely from his lips. "I don't know…I really was looking forward to paying Kurenai a visit…And didn't you mention something about Kakashi not approving of you undergoing training to control your wind chakra?"

"No, no! Please don't tell Kakashi about this! He locked me up in his evil house with only chores to do that I've already repeated like a million times! Seriously, I'll die out of boredom if you won't train me." I pleaded, holding out my arms and entwining my fingers in a prayer.

He seemed to be thinking about my plea, probably wondering if he wouldn't get in trouble for ignoring Kakashi's wishes.

"Alright…But you'll have to repay me eventually." He answered, taking his cigarette out of his mouth to throw it at the ground and then extinguished the flame with the sole of his sandal.

"Sure. How does dinner for next Saturday sound? I'll cook for you and Kurenai-san and you two can get on with the romantic stuff." I offered smilingly before looking away while thinking over the suggestion once more.

"Hmm…Although I'm not sure if any 'romantic' stuff would be appropriate when she's already pregnant. Maybe I should--"

"Dinner is fine Miraiko-san." Asuma quickly cut me off, a blush creeping up his cheeks.

"But still! I think I once read something about babies and--"

"_Miraiko-san_."

"Yes?"

"I really don't think we should be having this conversation."

"…Oh. Right. Well lets get on with my training then!"

* * *

Meanwhile…Somewhere in a place where it reeked of blood and malice…

"It's been thirty minutes already…You done yet, Hidan?"

"Let me be! The ceremony can't be erupted!"

Kakuzu glared at his religious partner who was currently bathing in his own blood with a pike sticking out of his chest. Hidan winced as he tried to sit up and yanked the weapon out of his guts.

"Each time and every time you go on with those creepy prayers, don't you think you could shorten it a bit? It's time for us to move on." Kakuzu muttered as he studied the map he was holding in his lap.

"What the hell do you mean, 'shorten it'?! That'd be sacrilege!" Hidan snapped back irritably, offended.

Kakuzu remained silent as he glanced at the female Jinchuuriki they'd just captured, who was currently half dead and pinned to a wall by a kunai that they'd driven into the back of her hands and blood seeping out of her back, then returned his gaze to the map.

_One more…This is becoming a literal combing of the countryside…_He thought as he raised his head to meet eyes the silver haired sadist again.

"Fire country is next."

* * *

"Make sure to stabilize yourself during the jump."

"Okay."

"Pay close attention to the input of your wind chakra. It still appears quite instable and it may affect the technique badly."

"Sure thing."

"Also, don't get impatient, it'll make your actions reckless and dangerous--"

"…Asuma-sensei, can I please start now? You told me this two times already."

The Leaf shinobi blinked at me and caught the eager look on my face instantly, then smiled wryly and nodded. "As you wish."

I nodded back at him and shifted a little on the tree branch I was balancing on, wiping a few beads of sweat from my forehead before exhaling deeply to regain my focus.

We'd been training for about half an hour with me constantly falling out of the air every time I tried to 'fly' and eventually Asuma told me to stop so he could give me some tips. Now I was determined to perfect this jutsu.

This was it.

_You make it sound as if you're gonna die in a minute or something…Okay you probably ARE going to die if this attempt fails and you crash into Asuma's house again…You'd better not mess this up._

"Ready?" The Leaf shinobi's voice silenced my voice of reasoning (if you can call it that…It seems to prefer to insult me more than give me advice..) and I dug my heels into the wood beneath me to prepare myself for the jump.

"GO!" I shouted, adrenaline filling me up as I leapt up in the sky.

The familiar tingly feeling of sharp and hot chakra pulsing wildly through my veins held my attention while I tried to tame it so it would envelope my body and recreate the 'flying' movements.

It was still hard to control even though I'd been trying to control for it almost four hours.

For the moment I remained hanging in the air, but rather unbalanced and wobbly with my arms slapping through the air to try and keep the little balance I had and my legs uselessly dangling below.

_No! Move! MOVE! _My mind kept yelling to no avail as I simply hung in the air motionlessly no matter how much I flapped my arms.

Maybe I should add just a little bit more power to it…

_Didn't Asuma-sensei say not to get impatient though? He said that it could be dangerous--_

"Ah what damage could a just a little extra chakra do?" I cut off my voice of reasoning as I grinned and sent a new rush of chakra through my body.

The effect was promising at first, but also…

"Hey this is working quite well! Maybe I-- HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH--"

…Quite **un**controllable.

"--AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!" I screamed, seriously thinking that my lungs would burst when I suddenly lost all control I had over my chakra and it seemed to get a life of it's own, launching me in the sky like a freaking rocket.

_Holy crap! Hit the brakes, push the stop button, make a crash-landing, kill the engine, call the president of the United Status…Oh wait phones don't exist here…Oh great freaking timing to notice that. _

_And why would the president answer the call anyway--Oh God screw this, I don't care what you do, just do SOMETHING!! _

Unfortunately, any rational solution that I would've come up with if I'd been standing on solid ground refused to enter my mind as my body pierced the air at an insane speed, the full force of the flight hurting me in the process.

It was exactly like the first time. No control. No idea of how to stop. No _nothing_.

The only thing I was in charge of were the shrill screams for help that I managed to spout while I kept jolting and jerking about like a ragdoll. Oh how helpful _that_ was.

_Oh God please let me live!! There are still so many things I need to learn! Like what's behind Kakashi's mask! And using chopsticks for Your sake--!_

The moment I began to beg for my life, I felt something tug at my leg and gravity magically kicked me in the back to hurl me down to the ground.

I was sure that I'd somehow end getting squashed to death or something, until my butt hit something comfortably soft and I heard a pained 'oof!' noise.

Awkwardness came over me as I lowered my eyes to a chest that was clad in a familiar dark green Konoha vest which I was using as my cushion.

_Okay God, you can kill me now…Please?_

* * *

"Uhm are you okay? Does it hurt? Oh God, I'm so sorry--"

"No, no I'm fine. I wouldn't be much a jounin if this erm…_accident_ would take me out." Asuma reassured with a smile that seemed forced to me, but I nodded anyway.

I'd had my share of demolishing male pride and I wasn't about to destroy his too by fussing over him like a clingy mother, because my ass had almost crushed his ribs.

…

Maybe I should reconsider whether or not I'm a threat to society…

"Lets call it a day. We can work on your chakra control tomorrow, this time with more patience, if you don't mind." Asuma said, giving me a teasing grin.

I blushed at the remark, turning my head away. "Okay, okay, so I got a little carried away…I won't ignore your advice anymore."

"Why do you_ really_ want to learn this technique anyway? Didn't Kakashi find a way for you to return to home? It would be a bit futile to start learning now." The jounin asked curiously as he guided me over to the table with a shougi game where he always played with Shikamaru.

I averted my eyes elsewhere as I sat down on the opposite side of the table, facing him.

"I know…But I think I should try to be realistic. Kakashi told me that the chance to get me back home is very small." I lifted my head, a wry smile on my face.

"I should probably get more used to the idea of having to stay here. That's why I want to learn this technique; in case I can't leave."

He seemed surprised at the mature answer, most likely having expected a reason that involved killing time to get rid of boredom. "I see…"

"It's not really that bad I guess. I mean, I've always watched your err…_futures_ so maybe I can be of some use to Tsunade-sama…Or something like that." I muttered absentmindedly, not really as convinced of my words as I would've liked to be.

"Nothing beats 'home sweet home' though." The jounin retorted, looking at me meaningfully.

"That's for sure." I agreed, sighing while leaning back against my chair.

We remained silent for a while, just sitting there and listening to some birds that were chirping cheerily in the trees near Asuma's home.

"If it does come to that though…You'll always be welcome with Kurenai and I." He said quietly then, sounding sympathetic.

I broke into a laugh, cracking up a smile. "Yeah, I could work as your babysitter or something!"

He laughed at that too, rummaging through his pockets for a cigarette. "That'd certainly be…_interesting_."

I continued to smile, amused at the imaginary picture I drew in my mind of myself and Kurenai's baby, when a thought crossed my mind.

_You're forgetting something. Something important._

I frowned. Something important? Why couldn't I remember it…

"Asuma-sensei!"

"Ah Shikamaru, what's up?" Asuma snapped me out of my thoughts when his student popped up in front of us, a dead-serious look giving him an anxious appearance.

"The Hokage needs us, there's a mission. I can't explain now, you have to come with me."

"Mission?" I mumbled, inaudibly for them, trying to recall anything about a mission with Asuma's team from what I knew from the manga.

Asuma got up from the table, looking down at me as he stood. "Lets continue our discussion some other time, okay Miraiko-san?"

"Ah sure…" I nodded weakly, still deep in thought as he turned to leave.

Why couldn't I remember?!

_Asuma…_

_Mission…_

_Asuma…_

_Mission…_

_Asuma…_

"Hidan and…Ka…Kakuzu!" I gasped, finally understanding why I'd suddenly felt the strong urge to remember details about the mission Asuma and Shikamaru talked about.

_Oh no…Asuma…He'll…He…He'll die! __I can't let that happen!_

I opened my mouth to call back Asuma and Shikamaru but when I looked up, they'd already taken off at that ridiculous ninja speed I'd grown to hate so much.

Swiftly I jumped up from my seat, heading for Tsunade's office as well.

I just hoped I wouldn't be too late.

* * *

Once I reached the building, about a half hour later because Asuma's house was too damn far away, I caught sight of the jounin who was just leaving the Hokage's office.

"ASUMA-SENSEI!!" I cried out shrilly, sweating and gasping due to lack of air. I seriously needed to learn how to use that freakish ninja speed too.

"Miraiko-san? What are you doing here-" He began, looking puzzled and slightly amused at my worn-out appearance but I cut him off as I approached him.

"You can't go on the mission!" I blurted out, putting a frown on his face.

"And why not?"

"Because…I…need you to…help me choose what I'm going to make for dinner Saturday!"

His frown slackened and he sent me an laid back look. "I'm sure you'll be able to make a fine choice by yourself."

"But I also need help with…eh…tying my shoelaces!" I shot back immediately, not processing how ridiculous the argument sounded until the words already left my mouth.

He paused, looking at me searchingly. "Tying…your shoelaces?"

"Yes." I replied meekly, not knowing a better answer.

"Miraiko...Is there something wrong with you? Something you're not telling me?" He inquired seriously, a concerned expression on his face.

"Uhm…Well…When is the mission?" I quickly asked, avoiding the question.

"Tomorrow morning I'll be leaving. But what's wrong with you? You seem pretty upset."

_Tomorrow morning. Good, then I can still get in the way or something and stop him from going!_

"Oh yeah. I must've eaten something funny today. Too much sugar gets me all moody and stupid and…stuff. But uhm, I just want to see you off when you on the mission, so that's why I asked." I answered him, wearing an awkward smile.

He didn't really appear to believe me, but nodded anyway. "Alright. Be awake before seven o'clock then."

"Alrighty!"

This is going to be a piece of cake!

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH I OVERSLEPT!"

This is going to be an utter disaster.

In blood red, **14:32 PM** evilly bleeped at me from my alarm clock as I threw myself out of bed.

I jumped at my clothing closet, jerking it open and pulling on the first things I could grab, not caring how terrible the colours clashed or whatever. Mentally, I cursed Kakashi for not waking me up or Asuma not stopping by my house to pick me up.

But now was not the time to curse people. There was _no time_.

I sprinted out of my room, down the stairs, through the hallway and out of the house.

Warm sun rays grazed over me after I slammed the door shut and stopped, suddenly realizing that I had no idea in which direction Asuma's team took off. The forest was the only thing I recalled and some destroyed temple.

Vaguely Tsunade's order to not leave the village flashed through my mind before I ran.

_What are you doing? _An inner voice in my head demanded.

_You're not supposed to change what happens to them. Weren't you the one who said that?_

I gritted my teeth, increasing my running pace in hopes of drowning out the volume of the bothersome voice that refused to be ignored.

_You don't know what you're doing. Do you have any idea what kind of consequences this will have? You'll destroy the entire plot. _

"I'd also destroy Kurenai's life by not doing this! I have to change--_stop_ this for her." I hissed to myself, dashing past trees.

_Why? What gives you the right to change anything? _

"I care for them!"

_They're anime characters. Their lives are based on fictional plotlines. If you change anything you'll mess up everything. __Destroy__ everything._

"But still…"

_Do you really want to do that to them?_

"No…But I can't just…"

_Are you really that selfish?_

I stopped.

* * *

"ASUMAA! BEHIND YOU!

Shikamaru shouted at his teacher, thanking God as Asuma barely dodged the massive scythe that came lunging at him. It hit his opponent instead, the silver haired Akatsuki, Hidan, with the strange ability to remain alive, even when his head had gotten severed just a few minutes ago.

His partner, Kakuzu, had sewed the head back to his neck effortlessly.

The chuunin observed the situation.

Asuma had been wounded very badly by Hidan, but still tried to fight.

Genma and Izumo were powerless because Kakuzu held them in a death grip by their throats and prevented them from moving with his thread.

Shikamaru gritted his teeth, narrowing his eyes.

Their opponents were strong, lethal.

He needed to come up with a soon, otherwise he wouldn't be sure whether they'd be able to make it out of this battle without casualties.

"Heh…AHAHAHAHAHA! YOU IDIOT!" The silver haired Akatsuki suddenly bellowed, laughing like a maniac.

Shikamaru watched in horror when he saw that the man had stepped back into the circle that aided him in the deadly ritual to inflict wounds on his opponents by stabbing himself, if he managed to get their blood.

Hidan grinned maliciously, taking hold of a pike.

"STOP!" Shikamaru screamed, leaping forward to try and prevent the enemy from stabbing himself.

"He's finished." Kakuzu said as the Jashinist held out the weapon suggestively and attempted to drive it into his chest.

Asuma coughed up blood, already having been wounded badly and unable to move.

The other two team members, Izumo and Genma, could only watch while they were trapped in Kakuzu's thread.

"ASUMA!--"

--**STAB.**

"Gah!"

Shikamaru fell to his knees, eyes widening in horror at what he saw.

Blood seeped out of a chest and trickled down a mouth agonizingly slow. It hit the ground, a thick puddle of red forming beneath a pair of legs that buckled and dropped to the sand.

But it wasn't the Akatsuki's blood.

And it wasn't Asuma's blood.

* * *

"Gah!"

I gasped, looking directly into two violet eyes that stared back at me with amazement and slight confusion.

I could see that his mouth was moving but I couldn't hear anything.

My eyes were rolling back into their sockets and sudden numbness spreading throughout my entire body was making me feel light-headed.

I felt myself being thrown up high into the air.

The sky was spinning, I could see clouds racing, but it took only seconds before everything turned black and my eyes shut.

Only when my chest hit solid ground I dared to open my eyes, preparing myself for excruciating pain but no such thing came over me.

The ground beneath me felt strangely soft…like carpet…unlike the hard rocky ground I'd been expecting to feel.

I smelled the pleasantly refreshing scent of clean laundry and faint perfume though I had been expecting to take in the sickening smell of blood.

Scared and a bit confused, I blinked a few times, trying to steady my blurry vision, unsure of what to expect.

The second I regained clear vision was the moment that shocked me the most.

There were no ninja trying to kill each other.

There were no racing clouds.

No hard rocky ground.

No sickening smell of blood.

There was a bedroom.

_My_ bedroom.

I was…

Home.


	31. Scene Thirty One

****

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto Land.

This is it.

Yes, the ending of Trapped in a Naruto fanfic at a length of 203 pages in Microsoft Word and a total of 79121 words!

Dear God this has to be longest story I've ever written. And it's the first one I ever actually _ended,_ haha!

I want to thank everyone who had read and reviewed story! It was really fun to write it and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

* * *

Bright lavender coloured walls with many posters of singers, celebrities and anime characters attached to them. Stuffed animals on a bed that had clean pink sheets with red flowers imprinted on them pulled over the mattress.

Two closets with pictures of friends and family stuck on the doors. A computer in the corner of the room, beside the open window with purple curtains, that still showed the frozen picture of episode 29 of Naruto Shippuuden.

I was lying on top of the dark carpet in the middle of the room, my bedroom.

I was in _my bedroom_. My home.

This couldn't be right.

Was this a dream?

An illusion?

Some sort of sick _joke_?

I couldn't be home. I got stabbed by Hidan barely seconds ago. I had to be on the verge of death for crying out loud, but I was still breathing. There was no blood, no stab wound.

This had to be…an illusion. Genjutsu. Yes, Genjutsu! They must've put me under some sort of--

"Ally! Is that stupid download ready yet?!" A feminine, young, voice shouted.

For a moment I almost didn't realize that it was me that the voice was shouting at.

Me. Ally. Not Miraiko. **Ally**.

"Ally! God, are you deaf or something?" My breath hitched and my eyes went wide.

That high-pitched voice, that rude attitude…It sounded so familiar.

Was that…_Charlotte_?

Shakily, I got up. My hair fell into my face and I gasped. Black. Black hair. My normal hair colour was back. Whirling around, I turned to the wall where I knew a mirror hung and I took in a sharp breath again.

My face…My hair…My everything…It was normal again.

It seemed almost too good to be true, too suspicious. I could hear impatient sighing and footsteps were coming up the stairs, trailing up the hallway towards my bedroom.

Still a bit stunned and unsure of what exactly was going on, my first instincts were to explore my bedroom and make sure everything was touchable and real. But instead I couldn't resist the urge to utter the name of my sister whom I'd not seen for what seemed like months.

"Cha…Charlotte?" It rolled off my tongue hesitantly, as if I'd never said it before.

The footsteps were getting closer, hardly inches away from entering my bedroom when suddenly I felt the carpet beneath me sinking down. Startled, I jumped away, jerking my head up to see that my room was falling apart.

Swirling colours, mixed up objects, it was happening all over again.

"No! Stop! You can't--" I screamed, trying to prevent my world from slipping away again.

"Ally?" Charlotte's voice asked again, this time sounded more confused. Her mixed up body was standing in the doorway, blue eyes staring at me curiously through the messed up colours.

"Charlotte! Charlotte help me! You've got to stop thi--" It was like the air got sucked out of my lungs and I couldn't bring out words of screams anymore when I felt my legs being pulled down and I slammed onto the floor hard.

The last thing I remembered doing before everything turned black, was gasping for air.

* * *

"Nnnggh! Wah…?!" I shot up, sucking in as much oxygen as I possibly could. My eyes scanned my surroundings wildly, trying to make sense of the sudden switch of scenery that hit me.

White walls. Bed with curtains. Closet. Needles. Tubes. Bandages. Nurse. Iruka.

Wait…_Iruka_?

"Miraiko?! When did you-- Nurse, nurse! She's awake!" I was still breathing heavily, tightly grasping the white sheets that covered me.

I didn't say anything when I felt warm hands on my forehead to check my temperature, lights blinding in my eyes or any other medical check-up the nurse performed on me.

"She seems fine, but let me get another doctor just to be sure. I'll be back in a minute." I heard the woman say after she let go of my wrist and stopped checking my pulse for whatever reason.

There was only one thing that occupied my thoughts.

I wasn't home anymore.

Why?

_Why_?

**WHY?!**

"God Miraiko, you had me so worried…I'm so glad you're okay." Iruka's words of relief barely reached my ears when I screamed.

"Why am I back here?! What did you do to me? How did you get me back in this place? Was it all just an illusion?!" I demanded, watery eyes shooting up to glare at the chuunin hatefully.

"W…What are you talking about? Miraiko, calm down, you're still not strong enough--"

"WHY AM I NOT HOME ANYMORE?!"

I yelled at him, tightening my grip on the sheets of the hospital bed only to toss them away roughly before pushing myself off the bed. Iruka stared me oddly, I couldn't tell what emotion lay in his eyes, but it wasn't something good.

"Home..?" He repeated carefully.

"Just a minute ago! Everything was there…My bedroom, my computer, my download, my stupid posters, my hair, my eyes, my sister…Charlotte…_Charlotte_ was…" By then I had my hands in my hair, tugging firmly with my eyes closed in disbelief.

Charlotte was gone. Everything was gone.

"Miraiko-chan! You're awake!" I looked up slowly.

Naruto was standing in the doorway with a surprised look on his face and behind him Asuma, Shikamaru and Sakura closely followed.

Everything I'd been longing for was gone.

But _they_ were all here.

"Miraiko-san are you ok--"

"Leave me alone!" I snapped at whoever was going to ask if I were okay, before I ran out of the room, knocking over Naruto who blocked my path and ignoring his outraged cry for an explanation.

I wasn't okay.

How could they even ask me that?

I was so close to home, but my world had just collapsed.

Again.

* * *

About fifteen minutes later I locked myself up in the ladies bathroom.

It'd taken a long and nerve wrecking game of hide-and-seek with a crying Iruka, a furious Naruto, an annoyed Shikamaru, a worried Sakura with her army of doctors and a pissed off Asuma.

Eventually they lost track off me when I distracted them by letting a few boulders hit the ground outside of the hospital, tricking them into believing that I was there.

A sigh escaped my lips.

"Maybe now I can finally get things straight…" I mumbled, walking over to a mirror.

My hair was green again and so were my eyes. I was clad in one of those boring hospital 'dresses' that make you look like a ghost. Or severely anaemic.

Speaking of blood loss…

I pulled up the skirt of my dress, peering down to see that there was no trace of a stab wound.

_But how is that possible? I'm sure that Hidan stabbed me…Or at least I think he did…_

A weird noise that sounded like a doorknob rattling interrupted my thoughts. Then I heard Asuma's voice outside the ladies bathroom and I panicked, throwing myself in front of the door.

"Miraiko I know you're in there! Let me in!" He demanded irritably, pushing against the door.

"This is the ladies bathroom for crying out loud! Y-You can't come in!" I cried back, holding my back against the door to prevent him from coming in.

"Then you come out!"

"No!"

"If you don't come out, I'll break down the door."

"God, don't you have any respect for a woman's privacy?!"

He began to add more pressure, seemingly unfazed by my statement.

When he managed to make the door open a little, I yelped.

_Perhaps choosing the ladies bathroom to hide from persistent ninja men wasn't such a good idea after all._

"What will your kid think of you when he grows up and learns that his father peeks at peeing women?! And that's just…ew."

"Wha--I don't do _that_!"

"Well you're making that less and less believable if you keep this up!"

And then suddenly the pushing stopped. I sighed in relief and relaxed against the door. Finally. Maybe that'll make him--

"HYAAAAAAAHH!!" I screamed when without warning the door smacked against my back harshly and I was sent flying against one of the doors of a toilet.

"_God._ You do realize that I'm still a patient right? Weak and stuff, remember?" I managed to squeak, before I felt myself being hauled up roughly.

"You're making that less and less believable with all the running." Asuma retorted, no signs of amusement in his voice as he lowered me back on my feet.

I resisted the urge to smile at the remark, because I knew he wasn't pleased with me. So instead, I settled with listening to him. Which wasn't very pleasing either.

"First of all, what on earth were you thinking when you jumped into the battle like that? You could have gotten yourself killed!" He yelled at me, making me flinch.

"I just…wanted to help." I mumbled, looking away.

"The opponents were Akatsuki! You should've known with your ability to see the future. Why the hell did you--"

"Because I didn't want you to die! That's _why_!" I snapped back, slightly startling him.

His expression changed from angry and mildly concerned to enraged. "You don't have the right to change the future. You yourself said that, didn't you?!"

"Well would you've liked it better if I just let Hidan go on his merry way and stab out your guts?! Do you think I could do that? To you? To Kurenai? To your _child_?!" I yelled back, giving him a hard shove though he didn't budge.

He remained silent for a moment and so did I, turning the argument in a game of glaring.

"I know it was selfish to do this. But I care for you and Kurenai and I couldn't just let that happen. And now everything is so messed up…" I ran a hand through my hair frustratedly.

"Do you regret it?" He asked, a grim look in his eyes.

"Of course I don't regret it! But when I…I…" I trailed off, my thoughts wandering elsewhere.

"Miraiko?" He sent me a concerned look, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I swallowed hard. "Something happened when I got stabbed. I fainted…and when I woke up, I was home."

"Home…? As in, 'your world', _home_?" He prompted, eyes widening a little. I nodded, giving him a curious look.

"Only for a little while though. But…what exactly happened while I was out?"

"I'll tell you in the hallway, I think it's more appropriate that way." He answered with a faint blush, suddenly seeming to feel a little awkward in the ladies bathroom.

* * *

I went to the rooftop of the hospital to think a little after my talk with Asuma.

He'd explained to me that something odd had occurred when Hidan stabbed me. The silver haired Akatsuki, apparently not pleased with me disturbing his ritual, had tossed me off his pike and thrown me high in the air.

The only problem had been that when he did so, I didn't come back down.

For a good twenty minutes.

Asuma said that it was as though I'd completely disappeared in the clouds. And during the time that I was 'gone' reinforcements of Konoha arrived, who chased away Hidan and Kakuzu.

In the end Shikamaru caught sight of me falling out of the sky just when the reinforcements told their medic to heal Asuma and the other team mates. Shikamaru had caught me then and everyone was surprised to see that there was no sign of the wound that should've been on my chest. Not even a single trace of blood.

I wasn't sure whether to feel special or _scared_.

It wasn't like deadly wounds magically disappeared everyday.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I somehow ended up back home? Where maniacal happy-stabbing ninja didn't exist and I was unharmed?

Or did I posses some sort of freaky bloodline limit? Immortality? Oh God maybe Hidan accidentally performed some weird immortality ritual on me or something--

"Aaah too many questions…too big headache…" I moaned in displeasure, clamping my hand over my forehead.

"Are you okay?"

"Huh?" I drawled tiredly, turning my head to see Shikamaru walking up to me.

"Asuma-sensei told me that he's explained everything that happened to you." The fifteen year old informed me, stopping beside me.

"Oh. Well I'm pretty okay I guess. Just trying to figure out some weird things." I mumbled, blinking at him.

He was staring at the sky, watching the clouds drift by. "Miraiko-san…Arigatou."

"Eh?" I sent him a confused look, meeting eyes with him.

"For not letting Asuma die. Thank you." He clarified, taking a step back to bow down for me.

"Ah! N-No, you don't have to--It really was nothing-- Ah…haha…" I laughed awkwardly, uncomfortable with sudden formality of the conversation.

He rose again and shifted his gaze to the sky once more. I shut myself up and smiled softly, also lifting my head to admire the blue and white above us.

"You're always looking at the sky, aren't you? Is it really that relaxing?" I asked curiously, brushing my hair over my shoulder.

"Hn, it's a good way to just forget everything around you and be alone with your own thoughts, I guess…And lately I've been seeing a very odd cloud that keeps drifting by." He murmured back thoughtfully.

I tilted my head down, raising an eyebrow at him. "An _odd_ cloud? What do you mean?"

"It has a strange shape. Not like the others. It's…almost square shaped, not round like the normal ones." He answered, his eyes darting back and forth over the sky.

"Come to think of it, it appeared around the same time that you came here." He added absentmindedly, furrowing his eyebrows.

I gave him an amused smile. "Are you sure it wasn't just your imagination? Square clouds don't exist, you know--"

"There." He interjected suddenly, lifting his left arm to point up.

I knotted my eyebrows together in confusion, readjusting my gaze back up again. I squinted my eyes, trying to discover the 'square' cloud but all I saw were plain_ round_ fluffy white blobs.

"Where? I can't see it…Oh!"

Right above me, in the middle of two smaller round ones, I saw it.

It was certainly different from the others. I wasn't sure whether or not it was really square shaped. It still had a few trademark half round shapes in it…but something was off.

It almost looked like there were patterns drawn **inside** the cloud itself. Square shaped patterns.

_It almost looks like…a screen or something. With…buttons? It looks strangely familiar…_

I narrowed my eyes further, trying to figure out what the cloud reminded me of.

"Ah! Aaaah! That's-!"

Shikamaru returned his gaze to me, raising an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

I nodded furiously, mouth hanging open and finger pointing up shakily.

"That cloud looks just like my COMPUTER!"

* * *

"So…What you're saying is that the gate to your dimension is a _cloud_?"

I nodded wildly.

Tsunade gave an annoyed grunt.

"Are you sure you don't have a concussion of sorts? Amnesia? _Delusional_--"

"I didn't imagine it! Shikamaru told me that he's been seeing that cloud ever since I got here! It explains everything!" I objected excitedly, pointing at the boy behind me who looked troubled.

He gave a quick nod, muttering something about troublesome clouds, before folding his hands behind his head.

"See?!" I turned back to the Hokage, smiling brightly. "I found my way home!"

"Are you sure, you're not just jumping to conclusions. What other reasons are there to support your judgement?" She questioned, leaning an elbow on her desk.

"Well, I _did_ fall out of the sky when I came here. And I never confirmed the exact spot I fell from. I only know that I came _in_ through my computer and it's a little suspicious that that one cloud looks a lot like my computer." I reasoned with her.

She was about to ask another pesky question when I added:

"**And** when I was 'gone' for twenty minutes, I got tossed up high in the air first. So what if that cloud just happened to be within reach then?"

Another annoyed grunt. But I'd proven my point.

"How exactly do you plan to reach that cloud then? Are you going to _fly_?" She asked mockingly, scoffing.

I grinned widely at her question.

"_Well_…"

* * *

"THIS IS SO COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!"

Two weeks of training had passed.

After hearing about the discovery of the computer-shaped cloud, Kakashi had thankfully given Asuma permission to continue helping me with the jutsu to learn me fly. He'd been a bit stingy about the fact that I'd kept it a secret from him at first, but he appeared more amused then mad about it in the end.

The copy-nin then returned to help Naruto with his training again. The blond couldn't have been happier. When he wanted to hug the copy-nin, he nearly blew a hole through his stomach because he'd forgotten about the rasengan that was still spinning dangerously in his right hand.

Kakashi inconspicuously kept a firm distance from the blond for at least a week.

In the period of time that I was training with Asuma, I willingly went back to help Kurenai with chores again. I still owed her a romantic dinner with Asuma after all.

I'm still trying to banish out the disturbing noises of _affection_ they were making upstairs when I was washing the dishes.

But at the moment, all of that wasn't on my mind.

Because today was the day I would be going home.

I'd completed the jutsu.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I shouted, slicing through the air effortlessly.

I could still remember the time that Deidara had taken me to fly on top of his birds. The feeling had been so amazing and overwhelming. But this was at least ten times better, because I was actually flying by myself.

And I could totally control it all by myself!

"Uhm…I can see your panties."

"_What_-? UWAAAH!"

CRASH!

Although I still had to work on landing without fatal injuries after being distracted by very embarrassing remarks.

Damn my short attention span.

Spitting out a few leafs that had worked their way into my mouth, I pushed myself up to a sitting position in the middle of the bushes I'd fallen into and gawked at my spectator incredulously.

"You could see my _what_?!"

"Ah g-gomen, I didn't want to startle you. I just…erm…Are you okay?" The spectator,_ Iruka_, stuttered shyly, walking towards me to help me up.

"I'm okay. Thanks." I assured him, allowing him take to hold of my hands to pull me to my feet.

He quickly dropped my hands once I stood, averting his eyes somewhere else on the training field we were standing at. I smiled faintly. He was still feeling nervous around me, despite the fact that we'd made amends two weeks ago.

"Uhm…So you've completed it." He murmured quietly, glancing my way carefully.

I nodded, my smile growing larger. "Yep. I'm calling it _Jiyuujin_. Sounds fitting, doesn't it?"

"_Free man_…Yes, it suits you." He agreed, smiling back softly.

I pulled a leaf out of my hair with one hand and dusted off my skirt with the other. "Anyway, did you come here to see how my training goes or something?"

"Yeah…Among other things." He mumbled solemnly, looking a bit depressed.

"Iruka?" I prompted, tilting my head.

"I wanted to give you this." He held out a folded dark blue cloth, gesturing for me to take it.

I raised my eyebrows, unfolding it to see a shiny Konoha emblem engraved on silvery metal.

"A headband? But I never…"

"You earned it."

"Can I really take this? I'm not even a real member of this village. And I'm going to be leaving soon--" I paused, taking a minute to think.

"Is that why you're here? To say goodbye?"

"Yes. I know you're not leaving until tonight, but I still felt the need to talk to you sooner. Gomen."

I laughed at his serious expression, causing him to stare me confusedly. "Silly man, what are you apologizing for? You know you can talk to me whenever you want and about whatever you want. I thought we were already past the awkward relationship thing."

"Then…you won't get mad if I ask you one question about the future?" He asked quietly, sounding hopeful.

"I don't think I can answer it. I already kind of messed up the future by saving Asuma so there's no telling what'll happen next." I chuckled, grinning wryly.

"What if you _can_ answer this one?" He continued, looking at me with slight impatience.

I stopped laughing, sensing his anxiety. "Well if you're that sure about it, go ahead and ask."

"Do you…" He began, mumbling quietly.

"…Yes?" I prompted, leaning in a little.

"Do you think you will visit us again one day?"

I frowned. I hadn't expected that question.

Come back here? Would I?

Was that even possible? Wasn't my entire arrival just a glitch in my stupid computer screen that kept freezing which accidentally activated Kakashi's sharingan on me?

Could I recreate that?

I'd never even thought about coming back here.

Shaking my head to myself, I smiled thoughtfully, looking up at the sky where a certain computer-shaped cloud was drifting amongst the others lazily.

"Maybe I will."

_The End._

* * *

Thanks everyone for reading this story! _DAISUKI DESU_!

I'm not sure yet if this story will have a sequel. Or if you even want a sequel lol.

We'll just have to see what happens in the future.


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